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certainty

[sur-tn-tee]

Example Sentences Origin

noun, plural -ties.

the state of being certain.

something certain; an assured fact.

Idiom

for/of a certainty, certainly; without a doubt: I suspect it, but I don't know it for a certainty.

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Certainty is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. Does it mean:

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English certeinte < Anglo-French, equivalent to certein certain + -te -ty²

Related forms

non·cer·tain·ty, noun, plural -ties.

Can be confused: certainty, certitude.

Synonyms
1. certitude, assurance, confidence. See belief. 2. truth.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To certainty

Example Sentences

Scientists can now say with certainty that the age-old warning is outdated.

However, only you can decide how important summer certainty at this place is for you.

It's bidding on the basis of relative certainty to break the initial disagreement.

EXPAND

Scientists can now say with certainty that the age-old warning is outdated.

However, only you can decide how important summer certainty at this place is for you.

It's bidding on the basis of relative certainty to break the initial disagreement.

With alpine climbing, sometimes the only certainty is an overwhelming sense of ambiguity".

The collision of exponentials with the finite is a mathematical certainty.

Nothing should hearten us more than a lack of certainty about such things.

Milner's grave, there being no certainty as to the.

One certainty is that my dean adeptly choreographed the event, unbeknownst to me until the curtain had already fallen.

He said certainty of punishment and speedy justice were cardinal principles of deterrence.

She had a round face and eyes that sparkled with the certainty that human folly ruled and wasn't that a hoot.

People that is a religious term, not a scientific one, since it presumes certainty.

No one can say with certainty how many civilians have died in these wars.

Mozart taught him that exquisite certainty of touch which selects exactly the right notes to express a given musical idea.

As students and enrollment officials alike grasp for certainty in an uncertain time, the admissions cycle keeps spinning faster.

But it can be said with some certainty that the whip, if that is the appropriate word, has not changed hands.

The huge boom in residences in wooded, fire-prone areas means less certainty that fire crews will be able to provide protection.

However there must be some middle ground between reporting diarrhoea and waiting for ultimate certainty.

Extend that forecast to the entire state, and a big one is a near certainty.

Since blood usually flows when there is life, cupping is sometimes resorted to, but again with no certainty in every case.

The only certainty in this whole process is: silence generally means a rejection.

Until recently, it could be diagnosed with certainty only after a patient had died.

It might have a rocky core-it's not known with certainty.

The more you learn about one set of characteristics, the less you can say about the other with any real certainty.

The rest of the stampeding world will not wait until certainty appears.

It's still not a certainty that we're headed into recession, but the odds are growing greater.

The one certainty is that athletics and academic programs should not be seen as somehow working against one another.

But many think the law should give greater certainty.

Just over the horizon of scientific certainty lies the disturbing possibility that they might.

Inbred devolution is a certainty in some situations.

Divide that by the certainty of the patents: a billion divided by zero.

He will not know for a certainty until after the right leg is released from a plaster cast that now encases it.

The key to the deal is a heightened degree of certainty about how much of the debt will remain on the books and be repaid.

In fact, the one certainty is that the manager will eventually have a duff year when he earns no performance fee at all.

There were more eruptions-a statistical certainty in the volcano-studded country.

It is not about proving something with absolute certainty.

My optimism is based on the certainty that this civilization will collapse.

The lack of bait and the certainty that the trip will be almost a dead.

Firing is a real possibility, but by no means a certainty.

Such dire predictions thrive on the impossibility of saying with certainty how much is likely to go wrong.

The voice from the thicket seemed to convey almost nothing but purblind certainty and impatience.

We're basically opting for certainty and predictability, whereas others prefer exploration and change.

On the one hand, we've been told with almost religious certainty by.

The problem is, one simply cannot know with certainty whether or not a given student will survive without giving them a shot at.

In reality, scientists do not deal in certainty but in probabilities, and the way they calculate these probabilities is complex.

Human health is already being affected, in ways and degrees perhaps never to be known with certainty.

Truth comes from a process of empirical validation, not from self-confirming illusions of certainty because someone said it.

Some computer scientists find solace in the degree of certainty that comes from trading in yes-or-no operations.

Do not be taken in by his pleasant manner, by his atmosphere of certainty.

But the only certainty about the future of news is that it will be different from the past.

He won't be able to say a world against it, but he will pooh-pooh it to a dead certainty.

It is not different from any belief process that requires certainty.

Even clinicians are unable to determine its likelihood or timing with any certainty.

They make their claims with such certainty and conviction that there is no room left for a dissenting thought.

Most firms have to wait days or even weeks for such certainty.

Moral certainty can reduce matters that are, quite literally, black and white to terms that are even.

The foundations of your certainty are as faith-based as any.

In fact, certainty has proved much easier to market.

His answer, which has not changed since, was blessed with the certainty of youth.

But the risk, if not full certainty about its consequences, is there.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

certainty (ˈsɜːt^əntɪ)

—n , pl -ties
1.	the condition of being certain
2.	something established as certain or inevitable
3.	for a certainty without doubt

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

certainty

c.1300, "surety, pledge," from Anglo-Fr. certeinté (late 13c.), O.Fr. certainté, from L. or V.L. *certanitatem (cf. O.Sp. certanedad); see certain. Meaning "that which is certain" is attested from early 14c.; meaning "quality of being certain" is from mid-14c.

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"That though we are certain of many things, yet that Certainty is no absolute Infallibility, there still remains the possibility of our being mistaken in all matters of humane Belief and Inquiry."

-Joseph Glanvill

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