Assured

How to spell assured

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce assured

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does assured mean?

1. adjectiveShowing confidence and certainty in oneself or one's abilities.
2. verbTold someone something positively to remove their doubt or worry; guaranteed.
3. adjectiveMade certain or guaranteed to happen.

Assured in a sentence

• adjective

  Her assured manner calmed the nervous clients during the meeting.

• verb

  The manager assured the staff that no jobs would be cut this year.

• adjective

  With three matches still to play, their place in the final was assured.

• adjective

  The surgeon spoke in a calm, assured voice before the operation.

• verb

  She assured her parents that the loan would be repaid on time.

• adjective

  A steady pension gave her an assured income in retirement.

Where does assured come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back through Old French to the Latin verb assecurare, which combined the prefix ad-, meaning 'to' or 'towards', with securus, meaning 'safe' or 'free from care' (the same root that gives us 'secure' and 'sure'). In medieval French this became aseurer, meaning 'to make safe' or 'to give confidence to', and Middle English borrowed it in the 1300s as 'assure', meaning to declare something confidently so as to remove someone's doubt. The form 'assured' is the past participle pressed into service as an adjective, describing either something guaranteed or a person who feels secure and confident. The same securus also underlies the insurance senses, which is why 'the assured' became the legal term for the person whose life or property is covered. Remembering that hidden 'sure' inside the word helps explain the single 's' after the doubled one and guards against the common slip of writing only one 's' at the start.

How the word is built

• as- (ad-: to, towards)
• sur (from Latin securus: safe, free from care, via French seur/sure)
• -ed (past participle / adjective suffix)