insecure

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin insēcūrus (“unsafe”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the negative of sēcūrus (“free from care”).^[2][3][7] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English also allow that it was formed in English from in- and secure.^[8][7] Johnson (1755) derived it the same way.^[9] The Latin adjective is formed from sē- (“without”) and cūra (“care”), so that secure means etymologically "carefree".^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not sure, lacking assurance or confidence; uncertain: 1649, in Jeremy Taylor's Great Exemplar,^[2][4] the 1640s in Etymonline, which also gives the sense "unsafe".^[3] The same work has the first record of a verb insecure, to make insecure, used until 1675.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense "unsafe, exposed to danger; not firm" follows in 1655, in Hamon L'Estrange.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave two senses, "not confident of safety" and "not safe".^[9] The psychological sense, of a person who lacks self-confidence and feels anxious, dates from 1935,^[2][3] somewhat after the psychological sense of insecurity (1917).^[3] The Shorter Oxford now lists the sense "lacking assurance or confidence" first.^[8]

Timeline

• 1649 – uncertain, lacking assurance or confidence.^[2][4]
• 1649 – verb, to make insecure (obsolete by 1675).^[2]
• 1655 – unsafe, exposed to danger, not firm.^[2]
• 1917 – insecurity, in its psychological sense.^[3]
• 1935 – psychology, lacking self-confidence.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Lacking confidence in oneself; anxious or unsure: The new player felt insecure among the older members of the team.
2. Not properly guarded or protected; exposed to danger or risk: an insecure computer network.
3. Not firmly fixed or fastened; unstable or shaky: The ladder felt insecure on the wet floor.
4. Not likely to last; uncertain: insecure jobs.

Word family

• insecurely
• insecureness
• insecurity

Related words

• secure
• sure
• cure
• security

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black