ASSERTION

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A declaration that is made emphatically (as if no supporting evidence were necessary)

Synonyms:

assertion; asseveration; averment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

declaration (a statement that is emphatic and explicit (spoken or written))

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

claim (an assertion of a right (as to money or property))

claim (an assertion that something is true or factual)

accusation; charge (an assertion that someone is guilty of a fault or offence)

contention (a point asserted as part of an argument)

ipse dixit; ipsedixitism (an unsupported dogmatic assertion)

affirmation; avouchment; avowal (a statement asserting the existence or the truth of something)

testimony (an assertion offering firsthand authentication of a fact)

denial; disaffirmation (the act of asserting that something alleged is not true)

Derivation:

assert (state categorically)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of affirming or asserting or stating something

Synonyms:

affirmation; assertion; statement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

speech act (the use of language to perform some act)

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

say-so (one chap's arbitrary assertion)

Derivation:

assert (postulate positively and assertively)

assert (to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true)

Credits

Context examples:

Conditional assertions make use of the DefinedContingentOnRelationship class.

(Defined Expression Variable Relationship, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

The reason of this assertion was, that he had now in his possession a certain wonderful Yahoo (meaning myself) which most of them had heard of, and many of them had seen.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

As to Mrs. St. Clair’s assertion that she had actually seen her husband at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or dreaming.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Mere assertion," Walt said sharply.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It was a hotchpotch of illiterate abuse of Martin, and of assertion that the so- called Martin Eden who was selling stories to magazines was no writer at all, and that in reality he was stealing stories from old magazines, typing them, and sending them out as his own.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She was almost as far from believing as from wishing it to be sincere; for she had not forgotten that he could mistake, and his assertion of the offer and of her encouragement convinced her that his mistakes could sometimes be very egregious.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Now act as you please: write and contradict my assertion—expose my falsehood as soon as you like.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Granting your assertion that the world does all this so soon for men (which, however, I do not think I shall grant), it does not apply to Benwick.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Now and then, as he made an assertion, he shot a venomous glance at his opponent, who seemed to be slumbering deeply, with the same broad, happy smile upon his face.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Their method was one of assertion, assumption, and denunciation.