Meaning & use
insurance underwriter
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A person whose job is to examine risks and decide whether an insurance company should accept them and at what price.
Grammar: Countable: you can say an insurance underwriter or several insurance underwriters.
Patterns
- work as an insurance underwriter
- an insurance underwriter for a company
- an insurance underwriter decides something
She works as an insurance underwriter for a large firm in the city.
The insurance underwriter refused to cover the old building without a full inspection.
As an insurance underwriter, he spends most of his day reading applications and checking figures.
nouncountablebusinessfinance
A company that takes on insurance risk and agrees to pay claims in exchange for premiums.
Grammar: Used for the firm itself, not a person; often in the plural.
Patterns
- the insurance underwriter agreed to cover something
- a leading insurance underwriter
The insurance underwriter agreed to cover only part of the loss.
Several insurance underwriters shared the risk on that huge shipping contract.
Word forms
| plural | insurance underwriters |
|---|
Common combinations
- work as an insurance underwriter
- He worked as an insurance underwriter before moving into banking.
- a senior insurance underwriter
- A senior insurance underwriter has to sign off on the biggest policies.
- an insurance underwriter assesses risk
- The insurance underwriter assesses risk before quoting a price.
- apply to an insurance underwriter
- Small businesses often apply to an insurance underwriter through a broker.
- the insurance underwriter's decision
- The insurance underwriter's decision is final in most cases.
Synonyms and how they differ
- underwriter
- Shorter and often used when the job is already clear from the context, especially in finance and insurance.
- risk assessor
- A broader term for anyone who judges risk, not only in insurance.
Word family
- underwrite verb
- To accept the risk of an insurance policy or support a financial deal.
- underwriting noun
- The activity or department that decides which risks to accept.
Commonly confused: insurance underwriter or insurance broker? insurance underwriter or claims adjuster?
insurance underwriter vs insurance broker
A broker sells policies to customers and works for them; an underwriter works for the insurer and decides whether to accept the risk.
insurance underwriter vs claims adjuster
An adjuster deals with a claim after a loss happens; an underwriter decides before the policy is issued.
Practice
Which sentence uses "insurance underwriter" correctly?
Choose one answer.
An underwriter's core job is deciding whether to accept a risk, so option 1 fits. Repairing cars is a mechanic's job, paying premiums is what a customer does, and selling policies to customers is a broker's role.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “insurance underwriter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.