Talk:ensure

I don't think that "ensure" and "insure" are variants of each other in the US. Have you ever heard of an "ensurance" company? Far more likely they are simply often confused, since they sound identical apart from the closeness of the first vowel. Hairy Dude 22:17, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Webster's defines ensure as insure, so they are the same word in the US. You can't rely on analogy with insurance, since that is a different word, but there is an obsolete form spelled ensurance according to Webster's. --EncycloPetey 22:26, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I've removed the erroneous "US" tags, and added RFV tags instead. --Connel MacKenzie 23:20, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

From RFV

ensure

This meaning can only be misunderstood if used this way, in American English. Is it valid in Australia or the UK or something? --Connel MacKenzie 23:23, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

• The OED lists nine meanings of ensure. SemperBlotto 08:20, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

  ...but for the meaning Connel tagged (arguably spread across three of their defs, all tagged as obsolete) it has no post-18th C cites. The last user noted is Edmond Halley, so I predict it will next be seen in 2061, following which a re-release of Rock Around the Clock will cause a sensation. --Enginear 01:20, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

  There are some recent uses that seem at least to blur the distinction between the definition given for ensure and insure:

  • 2006 — Gordon Brown, The British Economy and Globalisation

    I can assure you that through the vigilance of the Bank and our determination to ensure future public sector pay settlements are founded on our 2 per cent inflation target, we will maintain our anti-inflation discipline.

  It's tough to be sure, because there are so many hits. In the top 200 returns from Wikisource, this was the only one that fit the usual meaning of insure while using ensure. However, this could be a reflection of the relative infrequence of the monetary insurance meaning in those documents. --EncycloPetey 00:42, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

  This is not a use of ensure to mean insure. You have misinterpreted it. How would you account for the phrase are founded on our 2 per cent inflation target if the meaning were insure? Re-read the cite with the word that inserted after ensure to clarify the meaning. The construction Gordon Brown used, omitting the that, is very common in the UK. Perhaps not in the US? --Enginear 21:14, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

It's been more than three months with no valid cites, so I'm removing that sense … if someone wants to contribute some really-old cites, though, it can be re-added with an {{obsolete}} tag.. —Ruakh_TALK 16:41, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

assure vs ensure

Hi,

Is there any difference in the meaning or in using between assure and ensure? Thanks--Xan2 (talk) 07:23, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

• See definition #1 of ensure. SemperBlotto (talk) 07:27, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

Intransitive?

˄˄˄˄˄˄˄˄ (--2A02:A440:948D:1:3D3B:37E1:3B77:4088 22:21, 3 November 2023 (UTC))