to be sure

Idioms  

1. Undoubtedly, certainly, of course, as in The coat is expensive, to be sure, but it's bound to last longer than a cheap one. This idiom was first recorded in 1657.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

to be sure

We wrung it out pretty hard, just to be sure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

Interviewing prisoners of war is not straightforward: to be sure they are not being coerced, first and foremost, and then to assess how openly they are speaking in the circumstances.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

"We conduct land and air operation from helicopters. There haven't been any reports on missing persons, but we are still scouring the area just to be sure."

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Some of the disappointment, to be sure, is simply markets trying to get used to the very different style of Warsh compared to predecessors Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and Jerome Powell.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

He waited another couple of seconds to be sure his skin didn’t fade again, then returned to the office.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

Related Words

• absolutely
• assuredly
• certainly
• clearly
• definitely
• evidently
• indeed
• inevitably
• inexorably
• plainly
• undoubtedly
• unquestionably