Word.ws English Dictionary

sure as death and taxes

US/ʃʊɹ æz dɛθ ænd tæksəz/

sure as death and taxes adjective: totally certain.

Adjective

sure as death and taxes (not comparable)

  1. (simile) Totally certain.
    • Time, with his stealing steps, hath clawed me in his clutch, as the old song says: And this cursed gout; but it is what we must all come to. Nothing so sure as death and taxes.1824, Jonathan Swift, The novels of Swift, Bage and Cumberland, Hurst, Robinson, and Company, page 425
    • Things as certain as Death and Taxes, can be more firmly believ'd: The Devil not have a Cloven-Foot!1726, Daniel Defoe, chapter 6, in The History of the Devil, as well Ancient as Modern, second edition, The Modern History of the Devil, page 269

Adverb

sure as death and taxes (not comparable)

  1. (simile) Most certainly.
    • "As sure as Death and Taxes", the old proverb says. But there's a difference. You may evade, dodge or lie out of your taxes, but Death will not be deceived or denied.1908, The Insurance Age, volume 36, page 445

Synonyms of sure as death and taxes

Forms of sure as death and taxes

alternative formsure as death or taxes

Origin of sure as death and taxes

Primarily a reference to a 1789 quote by Benjamin Franklin: Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin First attested in 1726, but in common usage only as of the 19th century.

Words formed from sure as death and taxes

Questions about sure as death and taxes

What does sure as death and taxes mean?
Sure as death and taxes means totally certain.
What part of speech is sure as death and taxes?
Sure as death and taxes can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce sure as death and taxes?
Sure as death and taxes is pronounced /ʃʊɹ æz dɛθ ænd tæksəz/ (US).

Words near sure as death and taxes in the dictionary

  1. surds
  2. Surduc
  3. sure
  4. sure as a gun
  5. sure as death
  6. sure as death and taxes
  7. sure as death or taxes
  8. sure as eggs
  9. sure as eggs are eggs
  10. sure as eggs is eggs
  11. sure as fate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sure as death and taxes (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “sure as death and taxes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sure_as_death_and_taxes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.