ASSERT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does assert mean? 

• ASSERT (verb)
  The verb ASSERT has 4 senses:

1. state categorically

2. to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true

3. insist on having one's opinions and rights recognized

4. postulate positively and assertively

  Familiarity information: ASSERT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASSERT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they assert    ... he / she / it asserts   
Past simple: asserted   
Past participle: asserted   
-ing form: asserting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

State categorically

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

assert; asseverate; maintain

Hypernyms (to "assert" is one way to...):

insist; take a firm stand (be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assert"):

allege; aver; say (report or maintain)

predicate; proclaim (affirm or declare as an attribute or quality of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They assert that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

assertable (capable of being affirmed or asserted)

assertion (a declaration that is made emphatically (as if no supporting evidence were necessary))

Sense 2

Meaning:

To declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

affirm; assert; aver; avow; swan; swear; verify

Context example:

Before God I swear I am innocent

Hypernyms (to "assert" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "assert"):

hold (assert or affirm)

claim; take (lay claim to; as of an idea)

attest (authenticate, affirm to be true, genuine, or correct, as in an official capacity)

declare (state firmly)

protest (affirm or avow formally or solemnly)

assure; tell (inform positively and with certainty and confidence)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They assert that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

assertable (capable of being affirmed or asserted)

asserter (someone who claims to speak the truth)

assertion (the act of affirming or asserting or stating something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Insist on having one's opinions and rights recognized

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

assert; put forward

Context example:

Women should assert themselves more!

Hypernyms (to "assert" is one way to...):

acquit; bear; behave; carry; comport; conduct; deport (behave in a certain manner)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

assertive (aggressively self-assured)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Postulate positively and assertively

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

assert; insist

Context example:

The letter asserts a free society

Hypernyms (to "assert" is one way to...):

posit; postulate (take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

assertable (capable of being affirmed or asserted)

assertion (the act of affirming or asserting or stating something)

 Context examples 

They gave trail to him when he came and went or walked among them, and when he asserted his will they obeyed.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

"Then we'll get married on triolets that will sell," he asserted stoutly, putting his arm around her and drawing a very unresponsive sweetheart toward him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

When the parting came he affected high spirits, to conceal certain inconvenient emotions which seemed inclined to assert themselves.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You must assert that in such words as will carry conviction with them.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In your picturesque account of the matter, which I read with great interest some months later, you assert that the wall was sheer.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It can be done, it can be done,” I was thinking and asserting aloud.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And through it all the weariness was asserting itself more and more.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a dominant spirit asserted itself.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I shall begin to assert the privileges of a mother-in-law, if you go on like that, and scold you.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"I am not an angel," I asserted; and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)