certainty

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

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

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certainty (countable and uncountable, plural certainties)

1. 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.

2. An instance of being certain.
3. 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.

• certain

• certainty on Wikipedia.Wikipedia