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sure

adjective · adverb

Simple meaning

Certain to occur.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

shuur
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈʃʊɹ

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.

adjective

  1. Certain to occur; destined or inevitable

  2. Certain in one's knowledge or belief.

  3. followed by a to infinitive

    Certain to act or be a specified way.

  4. Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable.

adverb

  1. modal

    Without doubt, certainly.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Certain to occur; destined or inevitable

Used this way, sure 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

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

More ways to use sure

  • “"Did you kill that bear yourself?" ―"I sure did!"”adverb
  • “He was sure she was lying. I am sure of my eventual death. John was acting sure of himself but in truth had doubts.”adjective
  • “This investment is a sure thing. The bailiff had a sure grip on the prisoner's arm.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

pretty sure

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • surelyadverbDerived adverb

    Definitely or positively (`sure' is sometimes used informally for `surely').

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • sure enoughadverbCompound term

    As supposed or expected.

  • sure thingnounCompound term

    Something that is certain.

  • sure as shootingadverbCompound term

    Definitely or positively (`sure' is sometimes used informally for `surely').

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: certain to occur

certain

Antonyms

Sense: certain to occur

unsure

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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.