Library / English Dictionary

REASSURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give or restore confidence in; cause to feel sure or certain

Example:

I reassured him that we were safe

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "reassure" is one way to...):

assure (assure somebody of the truth of something with the intention of giving the listener confidence)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody of something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

Sam cannot reassure Sue

Derivation:

reassurance (the act of reassuring; restoring someone's confidence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to feel sure; give reassurance to

Example:

The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe

Synonyms:

assure; reassure

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "reassure" is one way to...):

calm; calm down; lull; quiet; quieten; still; tranquilize; tranquillise; tranquillize (make calm or still)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The good news will reassure her

The performance is likely to reassure Sue

Antonym:

worry (disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress)

Derivation:

reassurance (the act of reassuring; restoring someone's confidence)

Credits

 Context examples: 

It was reassuring, on such a night, to be told that some of the inn-servants had agreed together to sit up until morning.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They reassured him countless times; but he could not believe them, and pried cunningly about the lazarette to see with his own eyes.

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

In the current analysis, an important and reassuring finding was that peanut consumption did not affect the duration of breastfeeding, thus countering concerns that introduction of solid foods before six months of age could reduce breastfeeding duration.

(Peanut allergy prevention strategy is nutritionally safe, NIH)

Miss Tilney's manners and Henry's smile soon did away some of her unpleasant feelings; but still she was far from being at ease; nor could the incessant attentions of the general himself entirely reassure her.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The findings, the researchers said, should reassure doctors that the standard practice of using older red cells is just as safe and effective in these children, who are among the sickest and most fragile of patients.

(Fresh red blood cell transfusions do not help critically ill children more than older cells, National Institutes of Health)

He stood so still that a squirrel, busy with its harvesting, ran down a pine close beside him, saw him suddenly and skipped back, scolding so shrilly that Beth looked up, espied the wistful face behind the birches, and beckoned with a reassuring smile.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I felt Holmes’s hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake, as if to say that the situation was within his powers, and that he was easy in his mind.

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

That my smattering of knowledge should enable me to short-cut my way to truth is most reassuring.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She turned and touched his neck with her muzzle in a reassuring way, then regarded the camp again.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It was for me now to hurry on as fast as possible, and so to reassure them.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)