Definition of ascertain
transitive verb
1 : to find out or learn with certainty ascertain the truth trying to ascertain the cause of the fire information that can be easily ascertained on the Internet
2 archaic : to make certain, exact, or precise
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Examples of ascertain in a Sentence
We look at digital media—images, audio and video—and we try to ascertain whether or not they've been manipulated. We use mathematical and computational techniques to detect alterations in them. —Claudia Dreifus, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2007
Currently, an official trying to ascertain road damage in the aftermath of an earthquake might have to keep one eye on the TV news while listening to both radio traffic reports and the police scanner. Since most of these data are available in digital form, the software could take them all in, process them and present a report outlining the best evacuation routes. —Kevin Hogan, Technology Review, April 2002
With an equation linking the money wage to prices, the degree of inflation could be ascertained. —Sidney Weintraub, Modern Economic Thought, (1977) 1993
Recent Examples of ascertain from the Web
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A driver-facing camera mounted on the instrument panel uses gaze-tracking to ascertain if the driver is actually paying attention.
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Upon receiving the certificate, the browser will reach out to one of these services and perform the necessary query to ultimately ascertain the status of the certificate.
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Bryce Heinlein said investigators were still trying to ascertain the cause of the man’s injuries.
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Whether or not the issues of those pitchers is attributable definitively to the WBC is hard to ascertain, of course.
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The briefing by McCormack and Commander Stuart Cundy shed light on the difficulty of ascertaining who was in the building without a viable list.
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The briefing by McCormack and Commander Stuart Cundy shed light on the difficulty of ascertaining who was in the building without a viable list.
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The parliamentary authorities are also working with the center to protect the network and ascertain the scale of the damage, according to a spokeswoman for the House of Commons, who did not provide a name by British convention.
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Toxicologists who testified for both sides disagreed about whether THC levels found in postmortem blood samples can accurately ascertain when a person last used marijuana.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ascertain.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of ascertain
Middle English acertainen to inform, give assurance to, from Anglo-French acerteiner, from a- (from Latin ad-) + certein, certain certain
Synonym Discussion of ascertain
ASCERTAIN Defined for Kids
ascertain
playDefinition of ascertain for Students
ascertained
;ascertaining
: to find out with certainty Police tried to ascertain the cause of the accident.
Learn More about ascertain
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for ascertain Spanish Central: Translation of ascertain Nglish: Translation of ascertain for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of ascertain for Arabic speakers
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