Amanda CushmanMeagan Drillinger
Usage of Assure, Ensure, and Insure
In the centuries that ensure, assure, and insure have been in use, each member of the trio has at times been defined as a synonym of the others. Today, however, distinctions are generally made. Assure is most often used when someone is removing, or attempting to remove, doubt.
Ensure typically applies when something is made sure, certain, or safe.
Insure sometimes has this same meaning, but more often it is used when insurance is involved,
or, with the word against, when there is an effort to prevent something.
Did you know?
Do you ensure or insure?
There is considerable confusion about whether ensure and insure are distinct words, variants of the same word, or some combination of the two. They are in fact different words, but with sufficient overlap in meaning and form as to create uncertainty as to which should be used when. We define ensure as “to make sure, certain, or safe” and one sense of insure, “to make certain especially by taking necessary measures and precautions,” is quite similar. But insure has the additional meaning “to provide or obtain insurance on or for,” which is not shared by ensure. Some usage guides recommend using insure in financial contexts (as in “she insured her book collection for a million dollars”) and ensure in the general sense “to make certain” (as in “she ensured that the book collection was packed well”).
Examples of ensure in a Sentence
Paul Cartledge, History Today, July 2004
Indeed, even though she's been off the mainstream radar for more than a decade, her passionate love for and commitment to rock & roll have ensured that she's managed to make a steady living.
—Tom Sinclair, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Nov. 2000
They took steps to ensure the safety of the passengers.
regulations that ensure the wholesomeness of our food
Elizabeth Stamp, Architectural Digest, 3 Nov. 2025
Patrick Penn, Deputy Under Secretary Food Nutrition and Consumer Services for USDA, said in a court filing Monday that the department chose not to tap other emergency funds to ensure there’s not a gap in child nutrition programs for the rest of this fiscal year, which runs through September 2026.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 3 Nov. 2025
Their hybrid advisory model takes the best of tradition and marries it to innovation, ensuring that strategies grow alongside families’ needs.
—Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 3 Nov. 2025
This ensures a creamy, stable dressing that won’t separate quickly.
—Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 3 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ensure
Cite this Entry
“Ensure.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ensure. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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