Library / English Dictionary

SURE ENOUGH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Definitely or positively ('sure' is sometimes used informally for 'surely')

Example:

sure he'll come

Synonyms:

certainly; for certain; for sure; sure; sure as shooting; sure enough; surely

Classified under:

Adverbs

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Sense 2

Meaning:

As supposed or expected

Example:

sure enough, he asked her for money again

Classified under:

Adverbs

Credits

 Context examples: 

So up she ran from the cellar; and sure enough the rascally cur had got the steak in his mouth, and was making off with it.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It is not every body that would have stood out in such a kind way as she did, and refuse to take Jane's answer; but she positively declared she would not write any such denial yesterday, as Jane wished her; she would wait—and, sure enough, yesterday evening it was all settled that Jane should go.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

At the command of the bailiff they plucked off the fellow's shoe, and there sure enough at the side of the instep, wrapped in a piece of fine sendall, lay a long, dark splinter of wood.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Dead—aye, sure enough he's dead and gone below,” said the fellow with the bandage; “but if ever sperrit walked, it would be Flint's. Dear heart, but he died bad, did Flint!”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You can think that I looked out when I came to Charlington Heath, and there, sure enough, was the man, exactly as he had been the two weeks before.

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

Sure enough it was a pile of playing-cards—forty packs, I should think, at the least—which had lain there ever since that tragic game which was played before I was born.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Seventeen from the right and second from the left. This is the cave sure enough.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The furniture was rather faded, but quite good enough for me; and, sure enough, the river was outside the windows.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There, sure enough, I perceived a number of flaky ashes, and round the edges a fringe of brownish powder, which had not yet been consumed.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sure enough, they have the ship.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)