sure-enough

American

[shoor-i-nuhf, shur-] / ˈʃʊər ɪˈnʌf, ˈʃɜr- /

adjective

Older Use.

real; genuine.

sure enough Idioms

Actually, as one might have thought, as in Sure enough, the plane was three hours late. [Mid-1500s]

Etymology

Origin of sure-enough

First recorded in 1535–45

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.

See Examples For:

sure-enough sure enough

One day a sure-enough snake turned up in the plausible person of Henri Gauthier-Villars, a 34-year-old literary hack who married her and then shut her up in his Paris garret.

From Time Magazine Archive

A slender amputation case in a lower, still staring through the window into the dark countryside, said: 'I knew a real sure-enough model' and went on in detail about her.

From Time Magazine Archive

James Caesar Petrillo declared that it was a sure-enough, wage-earning musical instrument, and that professional harmonica players would have to join his musicians' union.

From Time Magazine Archive

Author De Hartog, a sure-enough seafaring man, began his nautical career at ten, got to be a brass polisher on an Amsterdam tugboat.

From Time Magazine Archive

But you bet you it was to see what sort of a figure his son was cutting here among sure-enough men.

From Ruth Fielding In the Saddle College Girls in the Land of Gold by Alice B. Emerson

And, sure enough, the S&P 500’s average return following past first cuts was lower than following first hikes.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

And sure enough, that scholarship came to the court, and the court cited it, and most of it has been debunked and disproven, but it’s the law anyway.

From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2026

Aeon, the Japanese retailer operating the mall, had boasted that the rebuilt structure was designed for resilience in quakes—and sure enough, it withstood the violent shaking this time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

While preparing for an interview for the “Smoglandia” podcast, she obligingly went looking through her things and, sure enough, found her gas mask.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026

I try not to judge people; there's a plank in my own eye sure enough.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023