- assert
- assert 1 Assert, declare, profess, affirm, aver, protest, avouch, avow, predicate, warrant agree in meaning to state positively usually either in anticipation of denial or objection or in the face of it.Assert implies absence of proof: it usually ascribes to the speaker or writer either assurance of the grounds for his statement or such confidence in his opinions as to make him indifferent to evidence{
that rigid sect which asserts that all real science is precise measurement— Ellis
}{Hobart . . . could talk; he could assert . . . but he couldn’t meet or answer arguments— Macaulay
}Declare and profess add to assert the implication of open or public statement and are often interchangeable. In precise usage declare is somewhat more formal and impersonal than profess which is especially suitable for conveying a personal or emotional involvement in what is under discussion; thus, a government declares war while a citizen professes complete trust in his government; a jury declares a man guilty but his mother professes continued belief in his innocence{they do not, for the most part . . . declare . . . that no war can ever be right— lnge
}{he talked well, professed good opinions— Austen
}Profess but not declare may carry a suggestion of insincerity{our princes of darkness . . . have become what they profess to scorn—angels of light— Sullivan
}Affirm implies conviction of truth and willingness to stand by one’s statement because it is supported by evidence or one’s experience or faith{yet, with the evidence before us . . . we cannot affirm that this is the later play— T. S. Eliot
}{politicians more often affirm their desire for retirement than show that they really mean it— Times Lit. Sup.
}Aver suggests complete confidence and certainty of truth{for all averred, I had killed the bird— Coleridge
}Protest stresses emphasis in affirmation, especially in the face of doubt or contradiction{I here protest, in sight of heaven . . . I am clear— Shak.
}{he protested that, except Lady Catherine and her daughter, he had never seen a more elegant woman— Austen
}Avouch usually imputes authority or personal knowledge to the maker of a positive statement{his own deposition, as three Cardinals avouched that he had made it before them— Yonge
}Avow implies open and emphatic declaration and personal responsibility for the statement{we affirm and avow that the very meanest translation of the Bible in English . . . containeth the word of God— Bible: Preface to A. V., 1611
}Predicate, though occasionally used as a close synonym of the preceding words, usually implies the affirmation of something as a quality, a property, or a concomitant of something{logic works by predicating of the single instance what is true of all its kind— James
}{to predicate of diabolic agencies, which are gifted with angelic intellects, the highly ridiculous activities which are so characteristic of poltergeist visitations— J. McCarthy
}Warrant (see also JUSTIFY 3) carries a strong implication of assurance or positiveness, sometimes suggesting little or no fear that one will be doubted or contradicted, and at other times connoting one’s personal guarantee{I warrant that’s just what will happen
}{I’ll warrant he’s as good a gentleman as any— Buchan
}{as smooth as silk, I warrant ye— L’Estrange
}{cheap-jacks who sell at dockyard gates a pill warranted to cure measles, toothache and rupture— Montague
}Analogous words: allege, advance, cite, *adduceAntonyms: deny: controvertContrasted words: gainsay, contradict, negative, traverse, contravene (see DENY): *disprove, refute, rebut, confute2 vindicate, justify, *maintain, defend
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
