assure

American  

[uh-shoor, uh-shur] / əˈʃʊər, əˈʃɜr /

verb (used with object)

• assures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• assured,
  past participle,  past
• assuring
  present participle

1. to declare earnestly to; inform or tell positively; state with confidence to.

   She assured us that everything would turn out all right.

2. to cause to know surely; reassure.

   He assured himself that no one was left on the bus.

3. to pledge or promise; give surety of; guarantee.

   He was assured a job in the spring.

4. to make (a future event) sure; ensure.

   This contract assures the company's profit this month.

5. to secure or confirm; render safe or stable.

   to assure a person's position.

6. to give confidence to; encourage.

7. Chiefly British. to insure, as against loss.

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assure British  

/ əˈʃʊə /

verb

1. to cause to feel sure or certain; convince

   to assure a person of one's love

2. to promise; guarantee

   he assured us that he would come

3. to state positively or with assurance

4. to make (an event) certain; ensure

5. to insure against loss, esp of life

6. property law another word for convey

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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

• assurer
  noun
• assuror
  noun
• interassure
  verb (used with object)
• preassure
  verb (used with object)
• assurable
  adjective
• unassuring
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• assuring
  present
• assured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• assure
  simple
• assures
  simple
• have assured
  perfect
• has assured
  perfect
• am assuring
  progressive
• are assuring
  progressive
• is assuring
  progressive
• have been assuring
  perfect progressive
• has been assuring
  perfect progressive

Past

• assured
  simple
• had assured
  perfect
• was assuring
  progressive
• were assuring
  progressive
• had been assuring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will assure
  simple
• will have assured
  perfect
• will be assuring
  progressive
• will have been assuring
  perfect progressive

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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

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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.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

assure assures assured assuring

More than once, I found myself studying photographs of grocery shelves, circling the very products I’d requested and sending the images back to my shopper, who would politely assure me that they weren’t available.

From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026

In the end, he used a televised address to the nation on Sunday to call for national unity and to try to assure the French public that the perpetrators of the violence would be punished.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

"And India, I can assure you, is preparing itself for this."

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

“We encourage the County to cooperate with our investigation and we assure you that we will seek to minimize any potential disruption our investigation may have on County operations.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

I wanted to hear something, anything to assure us that even after this girl came into our class, things would still be normal and regular.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott

“We’re all very kind and friendly,” he assures them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

The Fed stands ready to supply liquidity during panics, while the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation assures most depositors that they need not bear the consequences of choosing an unsound bank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

“No taxpayer dollars were spent for the participation of Secretary Duffy’s family,” an opening title card assures us.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

It assures him of direct entry into the sport's biggest tournaments for the foreseeable future.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

But he assures Theo he's watching out for Vincent.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

AI may introduce a new doctrine: mutually assured disruption.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

During the Cold War, mutually assured destruction helped deter nuclear conflict.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

I sheepishly assured my husband that was OK; we’d catch his next tour.

From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026

See Tickets' customer services department assured customers the error will not affect festival deposits, and ticket holders will be able to pay the remaining balance for their tickets as normal in April.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

They assured him he’d be up and walking around in a few days, but he was still resistant.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

She added: "Scotland can already take pride in assuring guests that short-term let accommodation across the country meets consistent safety standards."

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

“I didn’t know your parents would be here,” he says, assuring everyone that it’s “just kind of like a joke.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

It then tried to answer those queries pre-emptively, assuring the approximately 75,000 residents, for example, that it expects its data center would consume water at a similar rate to an office building.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Gundlach said those private-equity and private-credit firms keep assuring investors there are no problems, and their quarterly figures often won’t reveal any issues.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

In such cases, voters were asked to validate their ballots by taking an oath assuring that they were legally permitted to vote.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

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Related Words

• confirm
• ensure
• guarantee
• insure
• secure

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