As a follow-up to #35, in this installment of Word Knots we’ll focus on a word that’s related to #35.

 

Once again our source for this is installment is The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske (Chicago: Writer’s Digest Books). It’s a great book: Check it out.

 

From Fiske (excerpted):

 

Insure

 

Misused for ensure.

 

As Fiske writes (excerpted):

 

Ensure means to make certain. Insure is best reserved for matters of insurance: to issue or acquire insurance for. 

 

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Here are the most relevant Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary definitions (excerpted):

insure

transitive verb

 

1  : to assure against a loss by a contingent event on certain stipulated conditions or at a given rate or premium : to give, take, or procure an insurance on or for : to enter into or carry a contract of insurance on —used of either the person who pays the insurance premiums or the society, corporation, or underwriter that undertakes the risk as subject and of the thing to which the risk attaches (as life or property) or the sum secured as object

 

intransitive verb

 

: to contract to give insurance : underwrite also : to procure or effect insurance

 

ensure

transitive verb

 

1  : to make sure, certain, or safe : guarantee

 

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I stand with Fiske and M-W and would only use insure for insurance matters. One tricky aspect is that assure, which we looked at in #35, is used to mean insure or to cover by insurance, in Britain.

 

Here’s an example that uses all three words in the same sentence, applying the meanings in US English:

 

They assured us that since we have insurance, our financial safety is ensured.

 

Once again,  word choice is critical, which is why checking your work is an important step toward ensuring that your intended meaning is clear.

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