assert

From Latin assertus, perfect passive participle of asserō (“declare someone free or a slave by laying hands upon him; hence free from, protect, defend; lay claim to, assert, declare”), from ad (“to”) + serō (“join, range in a row”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈsɜːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈsɝt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t

assert (third-person singular simple present asserts, present participle asserting, simple past and past participle asserted)

1. To declare with assurance or plainly and strongly; to state positively.
   • 2012 March-April, Colin Allen, “Do I See What You See?”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 26 April 2012, page 168:

     Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.

   He would often assert that there was life on other planets.

2. To use or exercise and thereby prove the existence of.

   to assert one's authority

   Salman Rushdie has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.

3. To maintain or defend, as a cause or a claim, by words or measures; to vindicate a claim or title to.

   Coordinate term: posit

   to assert our rights and liberties

4. (reflexive) To insist on the legitimacy of one's rights, opinion, etc; not to allow oneself to be dismissed; to ensure that one is taken into consideration; to make oneself respected; to be assertive. See assert oneself.

   Since going to therapy, I've found it much easier to assert myself.

5. (programming) To declare that a condition or expression must be true at a certain point in the source code (in some cases causing the program to fail if it is not, as a safeguard).
6. (electronics) To set a signal on a line using a voltage or electric current.

• affirm
• asseverate
• aver

• remit
• deny
• deassert

assert (plural asserts)

1. (programming) Synonym of assertion

• “assert”, in Collins English Dictionary.

• “assert”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “assert”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “assert”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Sastre, Saters, Satres, TASers, Tasers, Tesars, asters, reasts, setars, stares, stears, tarses, tasers

assert m (plural asserts)

1. (programming) assert (conditional statement that checks the validity of a value)