Posts Tagged ‘assure or insure’

Assure: If you assure someone that something is true or will happen, you tell them what is definitely true or will definitely happen, often to make them less worried. “Please assure Matthew that the job will be completed by the deadline.”

Ensure: To ensure that something happens means to make certain it happens. “Her reputation was enough to ensure that she was always welcome.”

Insure: Insure is a financial transaction where you pay money to a company so that if property is lost, stolen or damaged, that company will pay you a sum of money or replace the property. “Insure your baggage before you leave home.”

These words are interrelated in complex and interesting ways. For instance, in American English, ensure is often spelled insure and the two words can be interchanged.

Also, assure and insure are closely related. Fowler’s Modern English Usage explains that in traditional British usage one insures against something and is assured of it. Hence Life Assurance applies to where a definite sum is a certainty on maturity or death, and Term Insurance is where what’s covered is the risk of the insured dying within a specified period, with no benefit payable if he or she survives it. The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association explains that Assurance companies generally have a British origin, while Insurance is accepted as common Canadian usage in the industry.