assure
Americanverb (used with object)
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assures,
present (3rd person singular)
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assured,
past participle, past
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assuring
present participle
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to declare earnestly to; inform or tell positively; state with confidence to.
She assured us that everything would turn out all right.
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to cause to know surely; reassure.
He assured himself that no one was left on the bus.
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to pledge or promise; give surety of; guarantee.
He was assured a job in the spring.
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to make (a future event) sure; ensure.
This contract assures the company's profit this month.
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to secure or confirm; render safe or stable.
to assure a person's position.
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to give confidence to; encourage.
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Chiefly British. to insure, as against loss.
verb
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to cause to feel sure or certain; convince
to assure a person of one's love
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to promise; guarantee
he assured us that he would come
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to state positively or with assurance
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to make (an event) certain; ensure
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to insure against loss, esp of life
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property law another word for convey
Usage
What's the difference between assure, ensure, and insure? 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. Ensure most commonly means to guarantee or make certain, as in Working hard ensures success. Insure typically means to guarantee against loss or harm or, more specifically, to cover with insurance. 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:assure = reassureensure = make sureinsure = cover with insuranceHere’s an example of assure, ensure, and insure 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 assure, ensure, and insure.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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assurernoun
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assurornoun
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interassureverb (used with object)
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preassureverb (used with object)
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assurableadjective
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unassuringadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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assuresimple
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assuressimple
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have assuredperfect
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has assuredperfect
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am assuringprogressive
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are assuringprogressive
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is assuringprogressive
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have been assuringperfect progressive
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has been assuringperfect progressive
Past
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assuredsimple
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had assuredperfect
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was assuringprogressive
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were assuringprogressive
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had been assuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of assure
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English as(e)uren, assuren, from Old French aseurer, from Late Latin assēcūrāre, from Latin as- as- + sēcūr(us) ( see secure) + -āre, infinitive suffix
Explanation
If you assure your boss that you’ll finish your project by Tuesday, you are making a promise or commitment to have it done by Tuesday. The verbs insure and ensure look and sound like assure but they aren't synonyms. There is some overlap in meaning — all of them can mean “to make secure or certain” — but assure is generally used in situations when you are referring to a person: “I assure you that I haven’t forgotten about driving you to the airport,” or “He called his mother to assure her that everything will be fine.”
Vocabulary lists containing assure
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 7–11
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List 4
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Bridge to Terabithia
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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:
How best to assure independence for the central bank?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
There is a particular brand of confidence required to assure party leaders and voters that one has no more skeletons in one’s closet, as Platner did before several more disquieting allegations emerged.
From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2026
Although surrounded by Oda’s soldiers just beyond Arioka’s walls, Murashige’s men assure him not to worry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
I assure you that it did not originate in The Onion.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
"I assure you it's not. We don't pull pranks down here."
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Galindo assures potential clients, “I’m supportive of all identities and relationship styles so long as they honor the safety of the self & others, physically, emotionally, and otherwise <3.”
From Slate ● May 22, 2026
Luis Cardona, the Colombian visitor, has no plans to hit the slopes but assures that, virus or no virus, he would "have no problem returning" to Ushuaia.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
Mary is disoriented and desperate, and the mere sight of her assures Sam that whatever favor Mary asks for, Sam can attach strings to.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
"No, it's not," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov assures me back in Moscow.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
It’s very simple, Todd assures us, just a “matter of taking people who have a very serious problem, though probably not anywhere near as serious as they think it is, and leaving them happy.”
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
He said he tries to be careful with his language to make sure that viewers understand that his predictions aren’t guarantees, using words like “high probability” and “odds are” to avoid giving assured recommendations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Fans of animated originals can rest assured that both Pixar and Disney Animation have new stories on the way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
Paz told 404 Media that company management had assured him they weren’t feeding information to agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a falsehood he passed on to city governments in his sales pitch.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
In one of the most expensive real-estate markets in the world, renting out the property wouldn’t be a problem at all, they assured me.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
“We would have done that anyhow, not just for the test,” Josie assured her.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The street has become such a maze that it’s unclear what’s even there, resulting in a series of “Businesses Open” signs assuring the public that something still exists inside the chain-link exoskeleton.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Some in the real-estate industry encouraged aspiring buyers to “date the rate, marry the house,” assuring them that they could refinance when rates dropped.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
He will continue appearing on television on behalf of the White House, scowling at critics and assuring the public that the administration has never been more unified.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
"That thing can be stopped," Tedros said on his arrival Thursday after assuring the Congolese people earlier in a message on X: "I want you to know that you are not alone."
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
Their overriding con cern was assuring a comfortable after-life for their rulers, who were considered gods.
From "The Annotated Mona Lisa" by Carol Strickland and John Boswell
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.
