unsure

Etymology

It was formed in Middle English from the prefix un-, not, and the adjective sure.^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not safe against attack, exposed to danger: about 1400, in the alliterative Alexander,^[2][5] and in Etymonline also of a person lacking certainty.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the word developed most of its senses: "unsafe, liable to give way" (1426, in Lydgate),^[2] "dependent on chance, precarious" (about 1412, in Hoccleve),^[2][3] "unreliable" and "doubtful, not fixed" (both about 1445, in Pecock),^[2] and, of people, "lacking certainty or confidence" (1412–20, in Lydgate).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it only as "not fixed; not certain", quoting Shakespeare's "What's to come is still unsure".^[6] The sense "not safe from attack" is now obsolete except in dialect,^[5][4] and the English Dialect Dictionary records "uncertain; insecure, unsafe" in Scotland, Ireland, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Lincolnshire.^[7] The modern sense, uncertain about something or about oneself, continues the 15th-century use for people.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – not safe against attack.^[2][3]
• c. 1412 – uncertain, precarious.^[2]
• 1412–20 – of a person, lacking certainty.^[2]
• 1426 – unsafe, liable to give way.^[2]
• c. 1445 – unreliable; doubtful.^[2]
• 1633 – marked by lack of assurance.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Not certain about something; doubtful: He was unsure which road led back to the village.
2. Lacking confidence in oneself: unsure of herself.
3. Not reliable or firmly fixed; precarious.

Related words

• sure
• insecure
• uncertain

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)