certainty

English

Etymology

From Middle English certeynte (“surety”), from Anglo-Norman certeinte, from Old French certeinete, from Vulgar Latin *certānitās, from Latin certus.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝtn̩ti/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːtn̩ti/
Hyphenation: cer‧tain‧ty
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

certainty (countable and uncountable, plural certainties)

The state of being certain.
Synonyms: certitude, sureness
Antonyms: doubt, uncertainty
- October 12, 1786, Fisher Ames, “Lucius Junius Brutus”, in Independent Chronicle:
  The certainty of punishment is the truest security against crimes.
An instance of being certain.
A fact or truth unquestionably established.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sure thing
- November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, “Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United”, in guardian.co.uk‎:
  Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.
- 1824, Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume I, London: […] Taylor and Hessey, […], OCLC 35810401:
  Certainties are uninteresting and sating.

Derived terms

certainty equivalent
legal certainty
moral certainty
of a certainty
racing certainty

Related terms

certain

Translations

state of being certain

Arabic: يَقِين‎ (ar) m (yaqīn)
Belarusian: пэ́ўнасць f (péŭnascʹ), упэ́ўненасць f (upéŭnjenascʹ)
Bulgarian: уве́реност (bg) f (uvérenost), си́гурност (bg) f (sígurnost)
Catalan: certesa (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 確信／确信 (zh) (quèxìn)
Czech: jistota (cs) f
Danish: sikkerhed c
Dutch: zekerheid (nl) f
Esperanto: certeco
Estonian: kindlus
Finnish: varmuus (fi)
French: certitude (fr) f
Galician: certeza (gl) f, certidume f
German: Gewissheit (de) f
Gothic: 𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌸𐍃 f (astaþs)
Greek: βεβαιότητα (el) f (vevaiótita)
Hebrew: וַדָּאוּת‎ f (vada'út)
Hindi: यक़ीन m (yaqīn), निश्चय (hi) m (niścay)
Hungarian: bizonyosság (hu)
Irish: cinnteacht f, dearfacht f, deimhneacht f, deimhin, deimhne f
Italian: certezza (it) f
Japanese: 確信 (ja) f (かくしん, kakushin)
Kapampangan: kabitasan
Korean: 확신(確信) (ko) (hwaksin)
Latin: certum n, certitūdō f
Latvian: noteiktība f
Lithuanian: tikrumas m
Macedonian: сигурност f (sigurnost)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sikkerhet (no) m or f, visshet m or f
Occitan: certesa (oc) f, certitud (oc) f
Persian: یقین‎ (fa) (yaqin)
Polish: pewność (pl) f
Portuguese: certeza (pt) f
Romanian: certitudine (ro) f, siguranță (ro) f
Russian: уве́ренность (ru) f (uvérennostʹ)
Scottish Gaelic: cinnt f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: и̏звесно̄ст f, и̏звјесно̄ст f, сигу́рно̄ст f
Roman: ȉzvesnōst (sh) f, ȉzvjesnōst (sh) f, sigúrnōst (sh) f
Slovak: istota f
Slovene: gotovost f
Spanish: certeza (es) f
Swedish: visshet (sv) c, säkerhet (sv) c
Tagalog: katiyakan
Tajik: яқин (yaqin)
Ukrainian: пе́вність f (pévnistʹ), впе́вненість f (vpévnenistʹ)
Urdu: یَقِین‎ m (yaqīn)