assurance
Americannoun
-
assurances
plural
-
a positive declaration intended to give confidence.
He received assurances of support for the project.
-
promise or pledge; guaranty; surety.
He gave his assurance that the job would be done.
-
full confidence; freedom from doubt; certainty.
to act in the assurance of success.
- Antonyms:
- uncertainty
-
freedom from timidity; self-confidence; belief in one's abilities.
She acted with speed and assurance.
- Antonyms:
- uncertainty
-
presumptuous boldness; impudence.
- Synonyms:
- cheek, nerve, impertinence, effrontery
- Antonyms:
- uncertainty
-
Chiefly British. insurance.
noun
-
a statement, assertion, etc, intended to inspire confidence or give encouragement
she was helped by his assurance that she would cope
-
a promise or pledge of support
he gave an assurance of help when needed
-
freedom from doubt; certainty
his assurance about his own superiority infuriated her
-
forwardness; impudence
-
insurance providing for certainties such as death as contrasted with fire or theft
Usage
What does assurance mean? An assurance is a positive promise, pledge, or guarantee. It is intended to dispel the listener’s doubts and give them confidence. When we are worried about something, an assurance from a trusted source can ease our anxieties. If you’re nervous about a volcano erupting, a scientist could give you assurance that it’s not meant to blow for 500 more years. The assurance might help you feel more safe and certain. Example: When Marya’s teacher asked why she hadn’t submitted her assignment, Marya gave an assurance that the essay was on its way.
Synonym Usage
See trust. See confidence.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of assurance
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English ass(e)ura(u)nce, from Middle French ass(e)urance; equivalent to assure + -ance
Explanation
An assurance is a vote of confidence. If you give your friend an assurance that you'll be there, you'd better show up. If you pledge to do something or make a binding commitment to do it, you can use the noun assurance. If the bank is going to loan you money to buy a house, they are going to need some sort of assurance that you will repay the loan in a timely manner. If you have confidence in yourself and your abilities, you can also use assurance to describe that — "The baseball team played with assurance, quickly racking up a seven point lead."
Vocabulary lists containing assurance
Bud, Not Buddy
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Much Ado About Nothing
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Promises, Promises
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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:
CrowdStrike chose to fine-tune Nvidia’s open Nemotron models because it needed the assurance that its proprietary and customer data would remain private, Richardson said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Like many of the best covers, Harris sings this young girl’s chronicle of her long-suffering mother’s sacrifices with such natural assurance that you’d think “To Daddy” had been written for her.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
Meta said it would strengthen its age assurance technology to make sure these are robust.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
“States now have a negotiated menu of age assurance, time limits, nighttime restrictions, parental controls, auditing, and monetary relief that they can put on the table,” Engstrom told me.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
She replied with a flood of warm assurance.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
The IMF said in its statement that it would also require "receipt of the necessary financing assurances from Senegal's partners".
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
The contemporary grocery aisle is full of labels, QR codes, lot numbers and assurances of transparency; nevertheless, the person pushing the cart is increasingly asked to perform the work of tracing the food backward herself.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
But those assurances didn’t seem to make much of an impression either.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
Mr. Mladenov has offered assurances that none of these provisions will be perverted to keep Hamas in power, and he has a team including a two-star U.S. general working to prevent that.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Eager agents answered the inquiries with assurances that there was plenty of inexpensive land available.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
