Assertive

How to spell assertive

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce assertive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does assertive mean?

1. adjectiveConfident and direct in stating opinions, needs, or claims without being aggressive.

Assertive in a sentence

• The manager praised her assertive approach during the salary negotiation.

• A more assertive tone would help him push back on unreasonable deadlines at work.

Where does assertive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb asserere, meaning 'to claim' or 'to lay claim to', which was formed from ad- ('to' or 'toward') and serere ('to join, bind, or connect'). In Roman law the phrase had a strikingly physical sense: to assert a person's freedom meant literally to lay a hand upon them and declare their status, so the idea of a confident, hands-on claim sat at the very heart of the word. English took up the verb 'assert' in the early 1600s in the sense of stating something firmly, and the adjective 'assertive' followed, describing a person or manner that states claims with confidence. The same serere root quietly survives in 'series' and 'insert', where the underlying notion of joining or putting things in place still shows through. For spelling, it helps to remember the doubled s of as- pressing up against the sert root, then the plain -ive ending.

How the word is built

• as- (from Latin ad-, to or toward)
• sert (from serere, to join or bind)
• -ive (adjective suffix)