Insecurity

How to spell insecurity

10 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce insecurity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does insecurity mean?

1. nounA feeling of anxiety, self-doubt, or lack of confidence about oneself.
2. nounThe state of being unsafe, unstable, or not adequately protected.

Insecurity in a sentence

• His constant insecurity made him fish for compliments at every meeting.

• The audit exposed serious insecurity in the company's payment system.

• Years of harsh criticism left her with a deep sense of insecurity.

• Job insecurity rose sharply during the factory closures.

Where does insecurity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin securus, meaning 'free from care' or 'untroubled', which was itself built from se- 'without' and cura 'care, worry'; so a secure person was literally one with no cares. Attaching the negative prefix in- 'not' produced the Medieval Latin insecuritas, describing a state of being unsafe or anxious. English adopted 'insecurity' in the early 1600s, at first chiefly in the sense of lack of safety or unreliable footing. The psychological meaning, an inner feeling of self-doubt or anxiety about oneself, grew much later and became common in the twentieth century with the rise of popular psychology. The same cura 'care' root survives in everyday relatives like 'cure', 'curious', and 'secure', and the doubled idea of 'in- plus secure plus -ity' is a handy way to remember the spelling, since the trap is the unstressed middle vowels rather than the recognisable parts.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• secur- (from Latin securus: safe, free from care)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix)