sure
/ʃoː/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.67 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable.
adv
Example Sentences
- "This investment is a sure thing."
- "The bailiff had a sure grip on the prisoner's arm."
- "'In the end,' said Mustapha Mond, 'the Controllers realized that force was no good. The slower but infinitely surer methods of ectogenesis, Neo-Pavlovian conditioning and hypnopædia…'"
- "The very excess of the extravagance, in fact, by suggesting to the reader continually the mere aeriality of the entire speculation, furnishes the surest means of disenchanting him from the horror which might else gather upon his feelings."
- "The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house."
- "Roy: I'm 95% sure it was him. Jen: You... you said you were 99% sure. Roy: I'm 97% sure it was him."
Etymology
From Middle English sure, seur, sur, from Middle French sur or Old French seür, from Latin sēcūrus (“secure”, literally “carefree”), from sē- (“apart”) + cūra (“care”) (compare Old English orsorg (“carefree”), from or- (“without”) + sorg (“care”)). See cure. Doublet of secure and the now obsolete or dialectal sicker (“certain, safe”). Displaced native Middle English wis, iwis (“certain, sure”) (from Old English ġewis, ġewiss (“certain, sure”)), as well as Middle English siker (“sure, secure”) (from Old English sicor (“secure, sure”)) with which it was cognate.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ʃoː/
Usage
Inflected Forms
surer (comparative)
surest (superlative)
sho (alternative)
sho' (alternative)
more sure (comparative)
most sure (superlative)