Ensuring

How to spell ensuring

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce ensuring

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ensuring mean?

1. verbMaking certain that something happens or is the case; guaranteeing a result or condition.

Ensuring in a sentence

• The manager spent the morning ensuring every order had been processed correctly.

• The safety officer spent the afternoon ensuring that exits stayed clear during the drill.

Where does ensuring come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present participle of the verb 'ensure', which English took from the Anglo-Norman and Old French enseurer, a variant of asseurer meaning 'to make safe or certain'. The core lies in the Latin securus, literally 'free from care', formed from se- 'without' and cura 'care', the same root that gives us 'secure' and 'security'. The prefix en- carries the sense 'to make' or 'to cause to be', so to ensure something is to make it certain. The word arrived in English in the late 1300s and has always hovered close to its cousins 'insure' and 'assure', which is precisely why writers hesitate over the opening vowel. Remembering that ensuring means 'making en-tirely sure' keeps the e where it belongs, distinct from the money sense of insuring.

How the word is built

• en- (to make or cause)
• sure (certain, safe)
• -ing (present participle suffix)