assert

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
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that rigid sect which asserts that all real science is precise measurement— Ellis

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Hobart . . . could talk; he could assert . . . but he couldn’t meet or answer arguments— Macaulay

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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
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they do not, for the most part . . . declare . . . that no war can ever be right— lnge

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he talked well, professed good opinions— Austen

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Profess but not declare may carry a suggestion of insincerity
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our princes of darkness . . . have become what they profess to scorn—angels of light— Sullivan

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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
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yet, with the evidence before us . . . we cannot affirm that this is the later play— T. S. Eliot

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politicians more often affirm their desire for retirement than show that they really mean it— Times Lit. Sup.

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Aver suggests complete confidence and certainty of truth
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for all averred, I had killed the bird— Coleridge

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Protest stresses emphasis in affirmation, especially in the face of doubt or contradiction
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I here protest, in sight of heaven . . . I am clear— Shak.

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he protested that, except Lady Catherine and her daughter, he had never seen a more elegant woman— Austen

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Avouch usually imputes authority or personal knowledge to the maker of a positive statement
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his own deposition, as three Cardinals avouched that he had made it before them— Yonge

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Avow implies open and emphatic declaration and personal responsibility for the statement
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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

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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
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logic works by predicating of the single instance what is true of all its kind— James

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to predicate of diabolic agencies, which are gifted with angelic intellects, the highly ridiculous activities which are so characteristic of poltergeist visitations— J. McCarthy

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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
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I warrant that’s just what will happen

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I’ll warrant he’s as good a gentleman as any— Buchan

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as smooth as silk, I warrant ye— L’Estrange

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cheap-jacks who sell at dockyard gates a pill warranted to cure measles, toothache and rupture— Montague

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Analogous words: allege, advance, cite, *adduce
Antonyms: deny: controvert
Contrasted words: gainsay, contradict, negative, traverse, contravene (see DENY): *disprove, refute, rebut, confute
2 vindicate, justify, *maintain, defend
Analogous words: proclaim, *declare, publish, advertise: *express, voice, utter

New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.

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  • Assert.h — Стандартная библиотека языка программирования С assert.h complex.h ctype.h errno.h fenv.h float.h inttypes.h iso646.h limits.h locale.h math.h setjmp.h signal.h stdarg.h stdbool.h stddef.h stdint.h stdio.h …   Википедия

  • Assert — As*sert , v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Asserted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Asserting}.] [L. assertus, p. p. of asserere to join or fasten to one s self, claim, maintain; ad + serere to join or bind together. See {Series}.] 1. To affirm; to declare with assurance …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Assert.h — is a header file in the standard library of the C programming language that defines the C preprocessor macro assert(). The macro implements an assertion, which can be used to verify assumptions made by the program.The assert() macro inserts… …   Wikipedia

  • Assert.h — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda assert.h es un archivo de cabecera de la biblioteca estándar del Lenguaje de programación C, en el que se define la macro de depuración assert (aserción, en inglés), que implemeta una aserción (test), usada para… …   Wikipedia Español

  • assert.h — <assert.h> est un en tête présent dans la bibliothèque standard du langage C qui définit la macro assert. La macro met en œuvre une assertion, qui peut être utilisée pour vérifier les hypothèses formulées par le programme. La macro assert… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • assert — [ə sʉrt′] vt. [< L assertus, pp. of asserere, to join to, claim < ad , to + serere, join: see SERIES] 1. to state positively; declare; affirm 2. to maintain or defend (rights, claims, etc.) assert oneself to insist on one s rights, or on… …   English World dictionary

  • assert — as·sert /ə sərt/ vt: to present and demand recognition of assert a claim as·ser·tion /ə sər shən/ n Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • assert — c.1600, declare, from L. assertus, pp. of asserere claim, maintain, affirm (see ASSERTION (Cf. assertion)). Related: Asserted; asserting. To assert oneself stand up for one s rights is recorded from 1879 …   Etymology dictionary

  • assert — ► VERB 1) state (a fact or belief) confidently and forcefully. 2) cause others to recognize (something) by confident and forceful behaviour. 3) (assert oneself) be confident and forceful. ORIGIN Latin asserere claim, affirm …   English terms dictionary

  • assert — [v] insist, declare, maintain advance, affirm, allege, argue, asservate, attest, aver, avouch, avow, butt in*, cite, claim, contend, defend, horn in, justify, mouth off*, pop off*, predicate, press, proclaim, profess, pronounce, protest, put… …   New thesaurus

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