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Uncertain vs Sure - What's the difference?

uncertain | sure |

As adjectives the difference between uncertain and sure

is that uncertain is not certain; unsure while sure is physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable.

As an adverb sure is

without doubt.

As an interjection sure is

yes, of course.

uncertain

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Not certain; unsure.
  • *(John Tillotson) (1630-1694)
  • *:Man, without the protection of a superior Being,is uncertain of everything that he hopes for.
  • Not known for certain; questionable.
  • :
  • Not yet determined; undecided.
  • Variable and subject to change.
  • Fitful or unsteady.
  • *
  • *:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
  • Unpredictable or capricious.
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:O woman! in our hours of ease, / Uncertain , coy, and hard to please!
  • Antonyms

    * certain

    Anagrams

    * *

    sure

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable.
  • Certain in one's knowledge or belief.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
  • Certain to act or be a specified way.
  • (obsolete) Free from danger; safe; secure.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Fear not; the forest is not three leagues off; / If we recover that we are sure enough.
  • (obsolete) Betrothed; engaged to marry.
  • * Sir T. More
  • The king was sure to Dame Elizabeth Lucy, and her husband before God.
  • * Brome
  • I presume that you had been sure as fast as faith could bind you, man and wife.

    Synonyms

    * (secure and steadfast) certain, failsafe, reliable * (sense, steadfast in one's knowledge or belief) certain, positive, wis

    Derived terms

    * for sure * surely * sure up (sure)

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Without doubt.
  • Sure he's coming! Why wouldn't he?
    "Did you kill that bear yourself? ?"I sure did!"

    Usage notes

    * Often proscribed in favor of surely. May be informal.

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (rft-sense) Yes, of course.
  • Synonyms

    * certainly, of course, OK, yes

    References

    * 1996, T.F. Hoad, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Etymology , Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192830988

    Statistics

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