Let’s say you’re in a thorny situation, and you find yourself wanting to offer comfort. Do you have a word or two in your back pocket for this moment? Do you 补蝉蝉耻谤别听your friend it will be alright? Or do you听别苍蝉耻谤别 them they’ll feel better soon? … Or is the word you’re looking for聽insure?
Confused? This is a tricky one. Assure, ensure, and insure ultimately derive from the Latin word聽蝉脓肠奴谤耻蝉 meaning “safe.”聽As with many words that share ancestors, these terms鈥� meanings can overlap and, in some cases, they still function as synonyms. In fact, ensure and insure聽have a very close history: insure developed as a spelling variant of ensure and functioned聽this way聽for hundreds of years. Essentially, they were the same word!
So what’s the discerning word lover to do? Well, for one thing, we can help you focus on several ways assure, ensure, and insure are used distinctly today. We assure you it’s not as painful as it sounds!
黑料网 does assure mean?
Assure was the first of the three to enter English with a reflexive sense of 鈥渢o have confidence, trust, rely.鈥� Today, the term is most commonly used to mean 鈥渢o state with confidence to鈥� or 鈥渢o cause to know surely,鈥� conveying the action of putting someone鈥檚 mind at ease, as in Despite all the challenges, she assured us that everything would turn out all right. While the words ensure and insure do function as synonyms for assure in some instances, today this use of聽assure聽(鈥渢o state with confidence to鈥�) is unique. As The Chicago Manual of Style notes, 鈥淲e ensure events and insure things. But we assure people that their concerns are being addressed.鈥�
黑料网 does ensure mean?
Ensure entered English shortly after assure with the meaning “to declare earnestly to; state with confidence to.” Today it is widely used to convey the action of securing or guaranteeing an outcome or development, as in This ticket will ensure you get a seat at the event.
黑料网 does insure mean?
As we’ve mentioned,听颈苍蝉耻谤别 entered English as a variant of ensure. However, in the mid-1600s, insure picked up a financial sense of “to pay a sum to secure indemnity to or on, in case of loss, damage, or death.” In general senses, ensure and insure are interchanged, but this financial sense is what distinguishes insure today.
We primarily use insure to talk about providing or obtaining insurance, as in After all his car accidents, the company refuses to insure him again. Insure can be used to talk about other kinds of risk, but in that usage, the term is typically followed by the word against,聽as in We insured against disappointment by making an early reservation.
How to use assure, ensure, and insure
As you can see, all of these terms address the action of making certain or guaranteeing, but each in a slightly different way.听滨苍蝉耻谤别 is the only of the three that explicitly refers to insurance policies and financial risk.聽The following examples will help clarify its use:
- Before you drive that car, you know you have to insure it, right?
- It cost Armando a lot of money to insure his old house.
To assure is to “declare earnestly” or with confidence, similar to reassure, a word that appears as . To ensure聽is related to the outcome of a situation. For example:
- The teacher 补蝉蝉耻谤别诲听the students that they were prepared for the test.
- Can you assure us that we have enough vaccines for everyone?
- The team needs to practice as much as it can to ensure a decisive victory Saturday.
- With a budget that small, we can’t ensure success in this marketing campaign.
