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as in one
known but not named a certain person told me that today is your birthday

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
3
4
5
as in reliable
not likely to fail chicken soup is grandma's certain cure for pretty much whatever ails you

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

6

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective certain contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of certain are cocksure, positive, and sure. While all these words mean "having no doubt or uncertainty," certain may apply to a basing of a conclusion or conviction on definite grounds or indubitable evidence.

police are certain about the cause of the fire

When would cocksure be a good substitute for certain?

In some situations, the words cocksure and certain are roughly equivalent. However, cocksure implies presumptuous or careless positiveness.

you're always so cocksure about everything

When is it sensible to use positive instead of certain?

While the synonyms positive and certain are close in meaning, positive intensifies sureness or certainty and may imply opinionated conviction or forceful expression of it.

I'm positive that's the person I saw

When could sure be used to replace certain?

The words sure and certain are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, sure usually stresses the subjective or intuitive feeling of assurance.

felt sure that I had forgotten something

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of certain Visits to these areas are only permitted to take place within certain hours. Alia Shoaib, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 May 2025 Citing his mission as one of fiscal discipline, Musk has led the DOGE effort to eliminate certain federal offices, slash regulations and rapidly cut down the federal workforce, while reprogramming or removing some government websites, software and systems. Lora Kolodny, CNBC, 28 May 2025 Last-minute negotiations resulted in eligibility protection for SNAP access for people with green cards, certain Cubans, and people residing in the U.S. under the Compacts of Free Association (COFA), which includes people from Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands. Ximena Bustillo, NPR, 28 May 2025 The arc of the subject’s life is evoked through steadily darkening, tightening mood, with certain scenes and setups replicated to variously despairing effect, from tacitly shifting points of view. Guy Lodge, Variety, 28 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for certain
Recent Examples of Synonyms for certain
Adjective
  • Drinkwater didn't make one appearance in a Chelsea shirt last season, whilst Bakayoko spent the season in Italy on loan at AC Milan.
    SI.com, SI.com, 3 Aug. 2019
  • Decisions made by engineers today, in other words, will determine not how one car drives but how all cars drive.
    Johannes Himmelreich, BostonGlobe.com, 30 Mar. 2018
Adjective
  • Grand Canyon's a big day, for sure, but this was completely out of the blue.
    Anthony Robledo, USA Today, 24 May 2025
  • While meteorologists don’t know for sure why March was so active, there were a couple of ingredients that favor tornadoes: First, in March the climate was in a weak La Niña pattern, which is associated with a wavier and stormier jet stream and, often, with more U.S. tornadoes.
    Daniel Chavas, The Conversation, 23 May 2025
Adjective
  • Having stabilized their bank balances and secured pay rises, consumers are now spending in anticipation of a more stable interest rate and price environment, according to the economist.
    Ganesh Rao,Chloe Taylor, CNBC, 23 May 2025
  • The component loadout is good for the price, with 16GB of RAM making multi-tasking smooth and stable.
    K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 23 May 2025
Adjective
  • Constant vigilance is necessary because drownings can happen within minutes, and young children especially can wander off or duck out of sight quickly.
    Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 20 May 2025
  • This might mean caps on unlimited PTO during certain times of year, or that advance approval is necessary.
    Erika Ebsworth-Goold, Travel + Leisure, 19 May 2025
Adjective
  • The problem with inland water Environmental scientists have a reliable way of monitoring the water quality at popular coastal beaches, often by taking samples on a daily or weekly basis.
    Angela Haupt, Time, 23 May 2025
  • To be fair to les frères Dardennes, there is a reliable level of unshowy competence as well as an integrity to their insistence on embedding with unglamorous, recognizable people.
    Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 23 May 2025
Adjective
  • There’s a definite purity-politics flavor to any suggestion that people should take a moral stand and leave a social network, but also a pretty airtight case to be made for boycotting it.
    Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 23 May 2025
  • In unaided awareness, total awareness, definite interest, Final Reckoning is ahead of 2023’s Dead Reckoning which did $54.6M over three days in what was a $78.4M five-day total.
    Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 21 May 2025
Adjective
  • Sitting in the Birmingham High bleachers wearing headphones before running the 400 meters at the City Section track and field prelims, 17-year-old senior Nathan Santa Cruz looks like a teenager comfortable and confident.
    Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 21 May 2025
  • This is confident cooking that’s nuanced and purposefully understated.
    Andy Wang, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025
Adjective
  • One of his final appearances was a 2020 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
    Raechal Shewfelt, EW.com, 29 May 2025
  • Thompson announced midway through last season that 2024 would be her final year as a 'full-time professional golfer'.
    Julio Cesar Valdera Morales, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Certain.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/certain. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.

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