Dictionaries › English

sure

Pronunciation: /ʃɔː/

The English word “sure” has 11 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable.
  2. Certain in one's knowledge or belief.
  3. Certain to act or be a specified way.
  4. Certain to obtain something.
  5. Free from danger; safe; secure.
  6. Betrothed; engaged to marry.

adverb

  1. Without doubt, certainly.
  2. Without fail, surely.

interjection

  1. Yes; of course.
  2. Yes; I guess; you could say that; a weak or noncommittal positive response.
  3. You're welcome; polite response to being thanked.

Etymology

From Middle English sure, seur, sur, from Middle French sur or Old French seür, from Latin sēcūrus (“secure”, literally “carefree”), from sē- (“apart”) + cūra (“care”) (compare Old English orsorg (“carefree”), from or- (“without”) + sorg (“care”)). See cure. Doublet of secure and the now obsolete or dialectal sicker (“certain, safe”). Displaced native Middle English wis, iwis (“certain, sure”)…

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “sure” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.