asseverate

American  

[uh-sev-uh-reyt] / əˈsɛv əˌreɪt /

verb (used with object)

asseverated, asseverating

1. to declare earnestly or solemnly; affirm positively; aver.

   Synonyms:

   maintain, state, assert

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asseverate British  

/ əˈsɛvəˌreɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to assert or declare emphatically or solemnly

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Other Word Forms

• asseveration noun

Etymology

Origin of asseverate

First recorded in 1785–95; < Latin assevērātus “spoken in earnest” (past participle of assevērāre ), equivalent to as- as- + sevēr- ( severe ) + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

—At this, the Boy suffered some Confusion, then to asseverate, My Tutor is deceased, Sir.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

Why merely say something, when they can declare, assert, expostulate, announce, or asseverate it?

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

He could hardly, for his confusion, asseverate the "Yes," when Rabette came running in with the almost unsuitably accented tidings, that the mother was coming.

From Titan: A Romance v. 1 (of 2) by Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich

That I long for a sight of your dear face, that I hunger for your touch and for your sweet voice, I need not tell you or further asseverate.

From Doctor Claudius, A True Story by Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)

"Positive philosophy," with complacent sciolism, may still coldly asseverate that the world is a dead congeries of "laws," into whose realm man is cast to take pot-luck in the universe; but we shall know better.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 95, September 1865 by Various

Related Words

• allege
• attest
• aver
• avow
• declare
• promise