assertion

UK/əˈsɜːʃən/US/əˈsɜɹʃən/

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,102 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: assertions

An assertion is a statement made confidently and without proof. A bald assertion, the assertion that, back up the assertion.

The lack of support is built into the word, which is why lawyers and reviewers reach for it: calling something an assertion says it has not been shown. In programming an assertion is a check that stops the program if it fails.

Definitions of assertion

1nounassertionA statement made confidently and without proof.C1
“The minister repeated his assertion that the economy was improving, without giving any figures.”

assertion is a statement.

Where it comes from

Latin assertio comes from asserere, to claim, from ad plus serere, to join.

Proto-Indo-European
*ser- (bind)
Latin
assertiō
Middle English
assercioun
English, today
assertion

From Middle English assercioun, from Latin assertiō. by surface analysis, assert + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

assertion in the wild

A person's assertions may not conform to their beliefs.
Propositional attitude
SAML is an XML-based markup language for security assertions (statements that service providers use to make access-control decisions).
SAML
Proof by assertion can also occur when the evidence cited is actually no different from the assertion itself.
Proof by assertion
An argument that actually contains premises that are all the same as the assertion is thus proof by assertion.
Proof by assertion
In law, a body of facts that directly supports the truth of an assertion without intervening inference.
Direct evidence

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

← Vocabulary