surety
surety Lexical Profile
surety Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person or organization that takes legal responsibility for another's performance of an undertaking, such as appearing in court or paying a debt.
"Her uncle agreed to act as a surety for the business loan until the startup became profitable."
Money or property given as a formal pledge that a person will fulfill an obligation or debt; collateral or security.
"The contractor was required to post a substantial surety before work on the municipal bridge could begin."
The state of being completely certain or confident that something is true or dependable.
"No economist could predict with absolute surety how the global market would react to the new tariffs."
Word Nuance & Usage
In legal and financial contexts, 'surety' specifically denotes a guarantor or a formal pledge of collateral, whereas in general prose it serves as a formal or slightly literary synonym for 'certainty'.
• Rhymes for surety
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French 'seurté' (safety, assurance), derived from Latin 'securitas' (freedom from care, security), from 'securus' (free from care). It is a historical doublet of 'security', having undergone phonetic contraction in French before entering Middle English.