insure
Americanverb
-
(often foll by against) to guarantee or protect (against risk, loss, etc)
we insured against disappointment by making an early reservation
-
(often foll by against) to issue (a person) with an insurance policy or take out an insurance policy (on)
his house was heavily insured against fire
after all his car accidents the company refuses to insure him again
Usage
What's the difference between insure, ensure, and assure? Insure typically means to guarantee against loss or harm or, more specifically, to cover with insurance. Ensure most commonly means to guarantee or make certain, as in Working hard ensures success. Assure usually means to tell someone something with confidence or to cause someone to know something with certainty—it often means the same thing as reassure.It’s no wonder there’s confusion between the three words—all three are verbs that are based on the Latin root sēcūrus, meaning safe. Making things even more confusing is the fact that ensure and insure can be used interchangeably in most senses. Still, insure is much more commonly used in the context of insurance, like car insurance, health insurance, and homeowner’s insurance. These kinds of insurance insure you—they give you coverage that provides you with compensation in certain cases and situations.Ensure is typically used in a more general way in the context of actions that are done to make sure that something happens or is the case, as in We need to ensure that the meeting starts on time.Assure is always used in the context of communication, especially in situations in which someone is trying to make someone else feel better about something. It’s used in the phrase rest assured.Here’s a quick cheat sheet to remember the most common uses of each word:insure = cover with insuranceensure = make sureassure = reassureHere’s an example of insure, ensure, and assure used correctly in a sentence.Example: She assured me that the company has ensured that every employee has the opportunity to be insured.Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between insure, ensure, and assure.
Other Word Forms
- insurability noun
- insurable adjective
- overinsure verb (used with object)
- preinsure verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of insure
1400–50; late Middle English; variant of ensure
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Such favorable reports in the past have been used to justify cuts to the premiums that the FHA charges to insure mortgages.
From Barron's
Such favorable reports in the past have been used to justify cuts to the premiums that the FHA charges to insure mortgages.
From Barron's
Annuities, bond ladders and market portfolios each solve different retirement challenges, but only annuities insure longevity risk, or the risk of outliving one’s savings.
Like the FDIC, these are insured by the government for up to $31,000.
From MarketWatch
It added that the contents of each compartment are insured up to €10,300 and told customers to check if they had additional coverage through their home insurance.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
