CERTAINTY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does certainty mean? 

• CERTAINTY (noun)
  The noun CERTAINTY has 2 senses:

1. the state of being certain

2. something that is certain

  Familiarity information: CERTAINTY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CERTAINTY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being certain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

his certainty reassured the others

Hypernyms ("certainty" is a kind of...):

cognitive state; state of mind (the state of a person's cognitive processes)

Attribute:

certain; sure (having or feeling no doubt or uncertainty; confident and assured)

incertain; uncertain; unsure (lacking or indicating lack of confidence or assurance)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "certainty"):

assurance; authority; confidence; self-assurance; self-confidence; sureness (freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities)

certitude; cocksureness; overconfidence (total certainty or greater certainty than circumstances warrant)

reliance; trust (certainty based on past experience)

Antonym:

uncertainty (the state of being unsure of something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something that is certain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

certainty; foregone conclusion; sure thing

Context example:

his victory is a certainty

Hypernyms ("certainty" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Attribute:

certain (established beyond doubt or question; definitely known)

uncertain (not established beyond doubt; still undecided or unknown)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "certainty"):

cert (an absolute certainty)

ineluctability; unavoidability (the quality of being impossible to avoid or evade)

inevitability; inevitableness (the quality of being unavoidable)

surety (something clearly established)

indisputability; indubitability; unquestionability; unquestionableness (the quality of being beyond question or dispute or doubt)

moral certainty (certainty based on an inner conviction)

predictability (the quality of being predictable)

slam dunk (something that is a sure to occur; a foregone conclusion)

Antonym:

uncertainty (being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance)

 Context examples 

Already the certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort; and comfort is strength to her.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He knew the breed, and he gave his advice in the certainty that it would not be followed.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

So far as I know—and I believe his honest heart was transparent to me—he never wavered again, in his solemn certainty of finding her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“It seems as simple as A, B, C. They know the direction by compass, the distance, and the speed. I should not call it anything more than mathematical certainty.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

At any rate, it shall be strong enough to search—inquire—to grope an outlet from this cloud of doubt, and find the open day of certainty.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"Personally, I am unable to classify the creature with any certainty," said Summerlee, lighting his pipe from the fire.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But Jane could think with certainty on only one point—that Mr. Bingley, if he had been imposed on, would have much to suffer when the affair became public.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

A qualification that describes the degree of certainty of the correctness of a microbial identification test result.

(Microbial Identification Certainty, NCI Thesaurus)

A malignant neoplasm in which the examined tissue can not be determined with certainty if it represents the primary site of tumor growth or tumor spread from another anatomic site.

(Malignant Neoplasm, Uncertain Whether Primary or Metastatic, NCI Thesaurus)

Terminology relevant to the degree of certainty of the correctness of a microbial identification test result.

(CDISC SDTM Microbial Identification Certainty Terminology, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)