assured

The word “assured” means confident and self-possessed, without any nervousness or doubt. In plain terms, confident (about a person) or guaranteed (about an outcome); in insurance, the person who is insured.

“Assured” is pronounced uh-SHOORD (/əˈʃʊɹd/ in IPA).

Here is “assured” used in a sentence: “She gave an assured performance despite the huge audience.”

Depending on how it is used, “assured” can be an adjective and a noun.

“Assured” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Assured” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: confident and self-possessed, without any nervousness or doubt.

Both words can name the person covered by a policy. The assured is the person named on the policy who is covered by it, a label traditional in British life assurance; the insured is the more common term in everyday insurance documents. In practice, many modern policies treat the two words as interchangeable.

Applied to people, the two are close: both describe confidence without nervousness. Self-assured pins the confidence explicitly to belief in oneself, while assured can also describe the performance rather than the person — 'an assured debut' — and has the extra sense of 'guaranteed,' as in 'an assured income.' Self-assured is never used for the guaranteed sense.

Use 'assured of' before a noun phrase — 'the team is assured of a place in the final' — and 'assured that' before a full clause: 'she was assured that the report was accurate.' Both constructions are standard. 'Assured of' typically means certain to receive or achieve something, reflecting the 'guaranteed' sense.