assertion

noun

as·ser·tion | \ ə-ˈsər-shən

, a-\

Definition of assertion

: the act of asserting or something that is asserted: such as

a : insistent and positive affirming, maintaining, or defending (as of a right or attribute) an assertion of ownership/innocence

b : a declaration that something is the case He presented no evidence to support his assertions.

Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Learn More about assertion

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Examples of assertion in a Sentence

the assertion that all men have certain unalienable rights is set forth in the Declaration of Independence made the unlikely assertion that gravity affects light

Recent Examples on the Web

That earlier assertion, in turn, backtracked from an initial statement that Saudi authorities knew nothing about what happened to the columnist for The Washington Post, who vanished after entering the consulate Oct. 2. — Aya Batrawy, The Seattle Times, "Saudi Arabia again changes its story on Khashoggi killing," 25 Oct. 2018 China's backed up this assertion by building artificial islands in the South China Sea and putting military installations on the Paracel and Spratly Islands. — David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, "What You Need to Know About the South China Sea, the World's Next Hot Spot," 27 Feb. 2019 These workarounds aren’t ideal from a user security and privacy standpoint, but their existence is at odds with the FBI's assertion that there is an urgent need for additional law enforcement access mechanisms. — Lily Hay Newman, WIRED, "‘Significant’ FBI Error Reignites Data Encryption Debate," 23 May 2018 The authors followed up on many ramifications of their initial findings and did an inordinate number of experiments to bolster each of their assertions. — Diana Gitig, Ars Technica, "Sugar cures cancer! (Not really, but one sugar may help chemo)," 21 Nov. 2018 The fact that there is no such law did not stop the president from repeating his assertion half a dozen times. — Nancy Cordes, CBS News, "Trump continues to falsely claim there's a law on family separation," 15 June 2018 Barring a brief visit to American troops overseas, he’s spent the week actively spinning up other baseless assertions about border security on Twitter and criticizing congressional Democrats who have refused to meet his $5-billion ask. — Amanda Sakuma, Vox, "Trump threatens to shut down the border for the third time in three months," 29 Dec. 2018 The Internet understandably lost it over Rihanna's assertion against Trump. — Abby Gardner, Teen Vogue, "Rihanna Filed a Cease-and-Desist Letter Against Trump After He Played Her Music at a Political Rally," 6 Nov. 2018 Among other findings from the report: — Investigators questioned Price's assertion that his official schedule prevented him from flying commercial. — NBC News, "Watchdog: $341,000 wasted on travel for former high-flying HHS chief Tom Price," 13 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'assertion.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.