Word.ws English Dictionary

making sure

making sure is the present participle and gerund of make sure.

Meaning of make sure

Verb

make sure (third-person singular simple present makes sure, present participle making sure, simple past and past participle made sure)

  1. To ensure that something specific happens, is done etc., or of something happening.
    • I'm going to make sure that I get to the interview on time.
    Synonyms:
    to it
  2. To make oneself certain (of something, or that something is the case); to verify, to ascertain.
    • When you leave, make sure you have locked the door behind you.
    Synonyms:
    make certain, * see, make doubly sure
  3. (archaic) To feel certain of something; to be convinced.
    • “The gun!” said he.
      “I have thought of that,” said I, for I made sure he was thinking of a bombardment of the fort. “They could never get the gun ashore, and if they did, they could never haul it through the woods.”1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC
  4. (obsolete) To betroth.
    • […] then his marriage shall be ſolemniz'd, / For wrote you not that I haue made him ſure / Vnto our Coſin, the Earle of Gloſters heire.1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act...

Questions about making sure

What is making sure the present participle and gerund of?
Making sure is the present participle and gerund of make sure.

Words near making sure in the dictionary

  1. making something of oneself
  2. making sport of
  3. making strange
  4. making streaks
  5. making strides
  6. making sure
  7. making terms
  8. making the bald man cry
  9. making the bed
  10. making the best of
  11. making the best of a bad bargain

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: making sure (page history and authors); make sure (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “making sure.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/making_sure. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.