Meaning & use
assurance
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Meanings
nouncountable
A promise or statement meant to make someone feel certain and less worried.
Grammar: Countable: he gave three assurances. Often followed by that: an assurance that all is well.
Patterns
- give someone an assurance that something
- an assurance of something
- assurances from someone
The manager gave us her assurance that the repair would be done by Friday.
I need an assurance that my data will stay private.
Despite repeated assurances, the train never arrived on time.
noununcountable
A calm sense of confidence in yourself or your abilities.
Grammar: Uncountable and followed by no article: she spoke with assurance.
Patterns
- with assurance
- an air of assurance
She walked onto the stage with complete assurance.
The young surgeon handled the operation with quiet assurance.
His answers showed a calm assurance that impressed the panel.
noununcountableBritishbusiness
Insurance that pays out when something certain to happen eventually occurs, especially a person's death.
Grammar: Mostly used in British English, as in life assurance.
Patterns
- life assurance
- assurance policy
He bought life assurance to protect his family.
The company offers both assurance and general insurance.
Her assurance policy matures when she turns sixty.
Word forms
| plural | assurances |
|---|
Common combinations
- give an assurance
- The mayor gave an assurance that the park would stay open.
- seek assurance
- Parents often seek assurance that their children are safe.
- firm assurance
- The firm assurance of support calmed the team.
- with quiet assurance
- He spoke with quiet assurance about the plan.
- quality assurance
- The quality assurance team tests every product before shipping.
- false assurance
- The report offered a false assurance of safety.
Synonyms and how they differ
- guarantee
- A guarantee is a firmer, often written, promise that can be enforced, whereas an assurance is a spoken promise that may only calm someone.
- confidence
- Confidence is the general feeling of trust in yourself or someone else, while assurance stresses calm, visible certainty.
- pledge
- A pledge is a solemn, serious promise to do something, whereas an assurance reassures someone that something is true or will be fine.
- poise
- Poise describes graceful calm under pressure, and it focuses on manner, while assurance focuses on feeling sure.
Opposites
Word family
- assure verb
- to tell someone confidently that something is true
- assured adjective
- confident, or certain to happen
- assuredly adverb
- without any doubt
- reassurance noun
- something said or done to take away worry
Commonly confused: assurance or insurance? assurance or ensure?
assurance vs insurance
In American English, insurance covers possible losses, while assurance in the British financial sense covers events certain to happen, such as death.
assurance vs ensure
Ensure is a verb meaning to make certain; assurance is a noun meaning a promise or a feeling of confidence.
Practice
Choose the correct completion: 'The airline gave us an ___ that our bags would arrive tomorrow.'
Choose one answer.
After 'an' we need a noun, and assurance is a noun meaning a promise. Ensure and insure are verbs, and assured is an adjective, so they do not fit the grammar.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “assurance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.