I concur with that webpage's clarification of the three words in question and condone your irrational irritability for said misuse of their application.

--Scott
www.wertel.pro

Eh - I think those definitions are close.

My take on them:

Insure - Use this as a word to describe the action or activity to "guard against" something.
Examples:
"I talked to my agent to see about insuring my home"
"The extra guards were placed to insure against theft of the engineer's priceless calculator."

Ensure - Use this word to describe the process of verifying, or making sure of something. While insure represents a defensive activity, ensure represents a proactive activity.
Examples:
"I walked through the warehouse to ensure that everything was in order."
"We will sound out the concrete to ensure that there is little danger of falling debris."

Assure - This word describes the activity of convincing another of something.
Examples:
"The mother assured her little son that no evil architect was lurking beneath his bed."
"I want to assure all of you that I will ensure the safety of your investment by insuring it against loss by purchasing insurance for it."

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In financial matters, "Life assurance" and "Life insurance" are often used interchangeably. They have clear and different meanings. Insurance has a fixed term and once that is over, nothing remains. Assurance is a mix of insurance and investment, more like a guaranteed return, even if you die early. I've never heard of "Life assurance" in the USA and it's becoming less common to hear it in UK.

Steve

"The mother assured her little son that no evil architect was lurking beneath his bed."

easiest solution is to cut the legs off the bed

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

@Artisi,

That would certainly ensure no architect could lurk beneath the bed!

Quote:

I've never heard of "Life assurance" in the USA and it's becoming less common to hear it in UK.

SomptingGuy, I occasionally listen to old podcasts of "old-time" radio shows from the late 1940's and early 1950's.

Some of the commercials that are included in them were from the Equitable Life Assurance Company. I thought the term was weird but that is what they called themselves.
Here's a short article on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AXA_Equitable_Life_I...

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Sompting, in the US the term is I think 'Whole Life Insurance' or something like that - I have a policy set up via a former employer & the insurance company claims they are one of only 2 places still offering this kind of coverage. Basically as well as acting as insurance without some time limit (i.e. not a gamble by them that I won't die before age X) it builds up value that I can choose to cash out after age 65 or something like that.

...my father was a life assurance salesman for many years, which is why I'm pedantic about the terms.

Steve

Insure means you get paid for it when things go wrong, period.

Guards don't "insure" something can't be stolen, unless the guard company pays for it if it is stolen. They "ensure" that it is more difficult to be stolen.

Never really seen "assurance" used incorrectly, but I definitely cringe when I see "insure" instead of "ensure" and that happens about 90% of the time.

I do bend my own definition sometimes when I make sure a seemingly irrelevant specification is referenced in a purchase order to a supplier, which provides "cheap insurance" if my customer wants something from my supplier that wasn't spelled out. Cheap, in that it only takes me a little extra time to "ensure" that the spec is in the PO text. So in that case, I guess if it goes bad I do get paid, in product features, and I don't have to eat the cost.

I'm going to insure my car, because not matter how much you assure me of your driving prowess, you cannot ensure that you will not hit me.

Tick has it correct...

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I assure you, I insured the asset to ensure the success of our business enterprise.

Three Helpful Hints

Knowing the meaning of insure, ensure, and assure does not help differentiate among the three words, because they all have the same definition. Despite that, they cannot always be used interchangeably.

To help you remember when to use each word, keep the following three hints in mind:

• You assure a person.

• You insure your car.

• You ensure everything else.

Again, it is okay to swap ensure for insure unless it relates to protecting people or property against risks like floods, death, hurricanes, and the like. Assure cannot be used in place of either insure or ensure, and is the only word which should be used to relate to a person's feelings.


Read more at http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/style-and-usage/...

@AlmeidaBR

They do /not/ all have the same definition.

I'm not sure why this thread needed to be started, let alone go on this long - just use a dictionary, people!

Assure: to declare earnestly; inform or tell positively; state with confidence; to cause to know surely
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/assure

Ensure: to secure or guarantee; to make sure or certain; to make secure or safe, as from harm
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ensure

Insure: to guarantee against loss or harm; to secure indemnity to or on, in case of loss, damage, or death; to issue or procure an insurance policy on or for
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/insure?s=t

http://julianh72.blogspot.com

There is a SURE thing about this thread if I want clear and concise definitions.

this reminds me of an effect/affect argument I had the other day

@jgKRI that exact example is a reason I had to wonder if the lines between the 3 words in my OP were blurred by common misusage. I used to be a stickler about the difference between effect and affect, though I still follow the old difference. Unfortunately it seems like the two have been misused enough that they are interchangeable to most.