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assert

verb

Simple meaning

To declare with assurance or plainly and strongly.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhsurt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈsɝt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. To declare with assurance or plainly and strongly; to state positively.

  2. Insist on having one's opinions and rights recognized

  3. reflexive

    To insist on the legitimacy of one's rights, opinion, etc; not to allow oneself to be dismissed; to ensure that one is taken into consideration; to make oneself respected; to be assertive. See assert oneself.

  4. To maintain or defend, as a cause or a claim, by words or measures; to vindicate a claim or title to.

  5. To use or exercise and thereby prove the existence of.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To declare with assurance or plainly and strongly; to state positively.

Used this way, assert is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • affirm , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • assertingadjectiveInflected form

    Relating to the use of or having the nature of a declaration.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • assertiveadjectiveDerived adjective

    Aggressively self-assured.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • assert oneselfverbCompound term

    Put oneself forward in an assertive and insistent manner.

  • self-assertingadjectiveCompound term

    Aggressively self-assured.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to declare with assurance or plainly and strongly

maintainaveraffirmTechnicalswear

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.