guarantee
Americannoun
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guarantees
plural
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a promise or assurance, especially one in writing, that something is of specified quality, content, benefit, etc., or that it will perform satisfactorily for a given length of time.
a money-back guarantee.
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an assurance that another’s obligation will be fulfilled, or something presented as such security; guaranty.
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something that assures a particular outcome or condition.
Wealth is no guarantee of happiness.
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a person who gives a guarantee or guaranty; guarantor.
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a person to whom a guarantee is made.
verb (used with object)
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guarantees,
present (3rd person singular)
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guaranteed,
past participle, past
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guaranteeing
present participle
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to secure, as by giving or taking security.
A credit card guarantees your reservation at the hotel.
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to make oneself answerable for (something) on behalf of someone else who is primarily responsible.
to guarantee the fulfillment of a contract.
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to undertake to ensure for another, as rights or possessions.
The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.
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to serve as a warrant or guaranty for.
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to undertake to protect or indemnify.
to guarantee a person against loss.
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to undertake (to do something).
I will guarantee to prove every word I stated.
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to promise (usually followed by a clause as object).
I guarantee that I'll be there.
noun
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a formal assurance, esp in writing, that a product, service, etc, will meet certain standards or specifications
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law a promise, esp a collateral agreement, to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another
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a person, company, etc, to whom a guarantee is made
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a person, company, etc, who gives a guarantee
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a person who acts as a guarantor
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something that makes a specified condition or outcome certain
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a variant spelling of guaranty
verb
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(also tr) to take responsibility for (someone else's debts, obligations, etc)
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to serve as a guarantee for
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to secure or furnish security for
a small deposit will guarantee any dress
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to undertake to protect or keep secure, as against injury, loss, etc
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to ensure
good planning will guarantee success
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(may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to promise or make certain
Usage
What does guarantee mean? A guarantee is a promise or assurance, especially one that is written or legally binding, that something is of a stated quality or will perform as stated, such as a guarantee that a car you purchase will operate correctly. A guarantee is also an assurance of a particular outcome or condition, as in Weather predictions are not guarantees. Weather often changes quickly. To guarantee something is to secure something, as a ticket guarantees entry to a movie showing. As well, to guarantee is to promise to do something, usually by signing a legally binding agreement, as in The company guaranteed me a job when I signed the contract. Example: I guarantee you will love your purchase and will give you a full refund if you don’t.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonguaranteenoun
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preguaranteenoun
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reguaranteenoun
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superguaranteenoun
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quasi-guaranteedadjective
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unguaranteedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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guaranteesimple
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guaranteessimple
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have guaranteedperfect
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has guaranteedperfect
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am guaranteeingprogressive
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are guaranteeingprogressive
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is guaranteeingprogressive
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have been guaranteeingperfect progressive
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has been guaranteeingperfect progressive
Past
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guaranteedsimple
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had guaranteedperfect
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was guaranteeingprogressive
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were guaranteeingprogressive
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had been guaranteeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of guarantee
First recorded in 1670–80; alteration of guaranty
Explanation
To guarantee is to promise or to a make binding agreement. If a baseball player guarantees his team will win the World Series, he better not lead the league in strikeouts. Guarantee is a word that is both a noun and a verb: the noun means "a binding agreement" and the verb is the act of making that agreement. This word seems to have come from garante, the Spanish word for "protect" and it's related to the Old French word warrant, which means "to authorize." Today, we often come across guarantee in advertisements, and you might wonder how they might guarantee to make your social life better if your teeth are whiter!
Vocabulary lists containing guarantee
Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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Frindle
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"The Constitution"
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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:
“If we do win this battle, what’s going to guarantee us that they’re going to keep it open for many years down the line?” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Past returns aren’t a guarantee of future performance.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Nvidia initially planned to guarantee all 10 gigawatts of OpenAI’s data-center commitments upfront, which could have totaled around $250 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
"In very busy locations with intensive use it is necessary for organisational reasons to ensure supervision in order to guarantee proper use and cleanliness," Sandra Holzinger, a spokeswoman for the municipality, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
“It cannot guarantee that these ideas will stop at its borders.”
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
Bagehot would recognize the goal: Reduce the encouragement to take risk, known as moral hazard, that offering guarantees in advance creates, but retain the ability to mount a rescue in a crisis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
There are no guarantees in investing, but this is about as close as it gets to long-term peace of mind.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
"The person may be returned all the same, it's just that this procedure requires basic guarantees", said human rights lawyer Laura Maria Medina Ferreras, adding that in her view these must "always" be respected.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
Like Cole, Segal emphasizes that “rights are not gifts from judges, but guarantees rooted in constitutional democracy and human dignity.”
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
But our guarantees could not be 100 percent reliable.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
“We, as indigenous people, have a long history of being guaranteed things…and then them taking it away,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
It is not guaranteed to be operational on any given day, but has been cycling guests in recent days.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
It cannot be guaranteed that every nation will toe the line of their confederation.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
As the American Civil Liberties Union explained in its aftermath last week, “Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution. No additional executive order can change the meaning of the Constitution.”
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
With college, at least I’d be guaranteed four more years as a student athlete.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
The transition talks between the interim government in Caracas and the opposition are backed by the United States, which says they will focus on rebuilding democratic institutions, strengthening the electorate and guaranteeing political participation.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
The deal would add to Nvidia’s financial maneuvers to support the AI boom, including guaranteeing it will lease any unused computing capacity from cloud-computing player CoreWeave.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
"Realistically this is what we can guarantee - the big difference is we are guaranteeing it for a minimum of three years."
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
But when the Legislature voted last year to extend the state climate program, that provision guaranteeing backup funding wasn’t included.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
A headhunter he’d contacted via e-mail was practically guaranteeing them work.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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.
