What does insure mean?
Insure is a verb meaning to arrange financial protection for something, or more broadly to guarantee that a possible loss or problem will be covered. It is commonly used with vehicles, homes, businesses, and valuable property: an owner may insure a building against fire or insure a shipment against theft. In extended usage, insure can mean to make a situation secure, though ensure is often the clearer verb when the emphasis is on making something certain to happen. The word belongs especially to legal, commercial, and insurance language, but its general sense of protection is readily understood. It should not be confused with ensure, which means to make certain. Insure comes through Old French from Latin securare, meaning “to make safe,” and its development was influenced by the closely related word ensure.
verbTo arrange insurance for something, or to guarantee protection against a particular loss or risk. It can also mean to make certain that something is protected or covered.
- To arrange insurance for property, a person, or an interest, especially against financial loss.
- To guarantee or provide protection against a specified risk or consequence.
"The policy will insure the building against damage from fire and storms."
"Drivers should insure their vehicles against theft and collision damage."
"The company took steps to insure the success of the launch by building in contingency plans."
Insure and ensure once shared the same spelling: both ultimately trace their meanings to the idea of making something safe or certain.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does insure come from?
Insure comes through Old French from Latin securare, “to make safe,” with the prefix in- added in the medieval period. It developed a specifically insurance-related meaning alongside the older sense of making something secure. The related word ensure retains a closer connection to the idea of making a thing certain, while security and secure come from the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How insure is actually used
Insure is especially common in legal, financial, and insurance contexts. In everyday usage, people sometimes use insure when ensure is more precise; for example, one insure a car but ensures that a plan works.
Easily confused with insure
Insure usually concerns insurance or financial protection against loss, while ensure means to make certain that something happens or is done.