Reassuring

How to spell reassuring

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce reassuring

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reassuring mean?

1. adjectiveHaving the effect of removing someone's doubts or fears and restoring their confidence.
2. verbIn the act of telling someone something to dispel their doubts or worries.

Reassuring in a sentence

• adjective

  The nurse spoke in a calm and reassuring tone before the procedure.

• verb

  She kept reassuring the worried passengers that the delay was brief.

• adjective

  The steady sales figures were reassuring to the nervous investors.

• verb

  The manager spent the meeting reassuring staff about their job security.

Where does reassuring come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows out of the verb 'reassure', which is the prefix 're-' meaning 'again' attached to 'assure'. 'Assure' came into English from the Old French verb 'aseürer', meaning 'to make safe or certain', which in turn rests on the Latin 'securus', a compound of 'se-' meaning 'free from' and 'cura' meaning 'care or worry', so the literal sense was 'free from care'. To 'reassure' someone, then, was originally to restore their freedom from worry once more, and the '-ing' form describes anything that produces that calming effect. The same Latin 'securus' also gives us 'secure' and, by a different route, 'sure' itself, which is why the spelling keeps that 'sure' chunk intact. The chief spelling trap is invisible in speech: there are two separate s's, one ending the 're-as' prefix join and one beginning 'sure', and the unstressed opening syllables tempt writers to drop a letter.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• assure (make safe/confident, from Latin securus 'free from care')
• -ing (participle/adjective suffix)