Standard Lemma guide

insurance

noun · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɪnˈʃɔː.ɹəns/ pour–poor merger
  • /ɪnˈʃʊə.ɹəns/ without the pour–poor merger
  • General-American: /ɪnˈʃʊɹ.əns/
  • General-American: /ɪnˈʃɜɹ.əns/
  • California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Connecticut Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-US: /ˈɪn.ʃə.ɹɪns/
  • Texas: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • India: /ˈɪn.(t)ʃuː.ˈrens/
  • India: /ˈɪn.(t)ʃoː.ˈrens/
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 N SH UH1 R AH0 N S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A means of indemnity against a future occurrence of an uncertain event.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • The car was totalled, but fortunately I had insurance.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The business of providing insurance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • After five years in banking, I switched to insurance.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Any attempt to forestall an unfavorable event.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, uncountable, usually

Examples

  • The sky was clear, but I took my umbrella for insurance.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A bet made after the deal, which pays off if the dealer has blackjack.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: blackjack, games

Examples

  • I only take insurance if the count is right.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

An insurance policy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A company providing insurance policies; an insurer.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

written contract or certificate of insurance

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • you should have read the small print on your policy

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: policy, insurance policy

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: contract

Narrower terms: floater, floating policy

8

noun

Meaning 8

promise of reimbursement in the case of loss; paid to people or companies so concerned about hazards that they have made prepayments to an insurance company

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: security, protection

Narrower terms: assurance, automobile insurance, car insurance, business interruption insurance, coinsurance, fire insurance, group insurance, hazard insurance, health insurance, liability insurance, life insurance, life assurance, malpractice insurance, reinsurance, self-insurance, term insurance

9

noun

Meaning 9

protection against future loss

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: indemnity

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: protection, shelter

History

Etymology

From the older form ensurance, see also assurance. By surface analysis, insure + -ance.

Across languages

Translations

154 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: versekering — indemnity
  • Albanian: sigurim — indemnity
  • Arabic: تَأْمِين (taʔmīn) — indemnity
  • Armenian: ապահովագրություն (apahovagrutʻyun) — indemnity
  • Assamese: বীমা (bima) — indemnity
  • Azerbaijani: sığorta — indemnity
  • Belarusian: страхо́ўка (straxówka) — indemnity
  • Bengali: বিমা (bima) — indemnity
  • Bulgarian: застрахо́вка (zastrahóvka) — indemnity
  • Burmese: အာမခံ (ama.hkam) — indemnity
  • Buryat: даадхал (daadxal) — indemnity
  • Catalan: assegurança — indemnity
  • Chinese Cantonese: 保險 /保险 (bou2 him2) — indemnity
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 保險 /保险 (bō̤-hiēng) — indemnity
  • Hakka Chinese: 保險 /保险 (pó-hiám) — indemnity
  • Chinese: 保險 /保险 (pó-hiám) — indemnity
  • Chinese Mandarin: 保險 /保险 (bǎoxiǎn) — indemnity
  • Wu Chinese: 保險 /保险 (5pau-shi) — indemnity
  • Czech: pojištění — indemnity
  • Czech: pojistka — indemnity
  • Danish: forsikring — indemnity
  • Dutch: verzekering — indemnity
  • Dutch: assurantie — indemnity
  • Esperanto: asekuro — indemnity
  • Estonian: kindlustus — indemnity
  • Faroese: trygging — indemnity
  • Finnish: vakuutus — indemnity
  • French: assurance — indemnity
  • Georgian: დაზღვევა (dazɣveva) — indemnity
  • German: Versicherung — indemnity
  • Greek: ασφάλιση (asfálisi) — indemnity
  • Greenlandic: sillimmasiineq — indemnity
  • Greenlandic: qularnaveeqqut — indemnity
  • Hawaiian: hoʻopaʻa — indemnity
  • Hebrew: ביטוח \ בִּטּוּחַ (bitúakh) — indemnity
  • Hindi: बीमा (bīmā) — indemnity
  • Hindi: इन्श्योरेंस (inśyorens) — indemnity
  • Hungarian: biztosítás — indemnity
  • Icelandic: trygging — indemnity
  • Ido: asekuro — indemnity
  • Indonesian: asuransi — indemnity
  • Irish: árachas — indemnity
  • Irish: táille árachais — indemnity
  • Italian: assicurazione — indemnity
  • Japanese: 保険 (hoken) — indemnity
  • Kazakh: сақтандыру (saqtandyru) — indemnity
  • Khmer: ការរ៉ាប់រង (kaa rap rɔɔng) — indemnity
  • Khmer: ការធានា (kaa thiəniə) — indemnity
  • Korean: 보험 (boheom) — indemnity
  • Northern Kurdish: sîgorta — indemnity
  • Northern Kurdish: înşurans — indemnity
  • Kyrgyz: камсыздандыруу (kamsızdandıruu) — indemnity
  • Latvian: apdrošināšana — indemnity
  • Lithuanian: draudimas — indemnity
  • Lithuanian: drauda — indemnity
  • Luxembourgish: Assurance — indemnity
  • Luxembourgish: Versécherung — indemnity
  • Macedonian: осигуру́вање (osigurúvanje) — indemnity
  • Malay: insurans — indemnity
  • Malay: asuransi — indemnity
  • Māori: rīanga — indemnity
  • Māori: inihua — indemnity
  • Mongolian: даатгал (daatgal) — indemnity
  • Norman: asseûthance — indemnity
  • Norwegian Bokmål: forsikring — indemnity
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: forsikring — indemnity
  • Pashto: بيمه (bima) — indemnity
  • Persian: بیمه (bime) — indemnity
  • Polish: ubezpieczenie — indemnity
  • Portuguese: seguro — indemnity
  • Romanian: asigurare — indemnity
  • Romansh: assicuranza — indemnity
  • Russian: страхо́вка (straxóvka) — indemnity
  • Northern Sami: dáhkádus — indemnity
  • Scottish Gaelic: àrachas — indemnity
  • Serbo-Croatian: осигура́ње — indemnity
  • Serbo-Croatian: osiguránje — indemnity
  • Sindhi: ويمو (vemo) — indemnity
  • Sinhalese: රක්ෂණය (rakṣaṇaya) — indemnity
  • Slovak: poistenie — indemnity
  • Slovak: poistka — indemnity
  • Slovene: zavarovanje — indemnity
  • Upper Sorbian: zawěsćenje — indemnity
  • Spanish: seguro — indemnity
  • Spanish: aseguración — indemnity
  • Swahili: bima — indemnity
  • Swedish: försäkring — indemnity
  • Tajik: суғурта (suġurta) — indemnity
  • Tajik: бима (bima) — indemnity
  • Tamil: காப்புறுதி (kāppuṟuti) — indemnity
  • Tamil: காப்பீடு (kāppīṭu) — indemnity
  • Telugu: బీమా (bīmā) — indemnity
  • Thai: กรมธรรม์ (grom-má-tan) — indemnity
  • Turkish: sigorta — indemnity
  • Ukrainian: страхува́ння (straxuvánnja) — indemnity
  • Ukrainian: страхо́вка (straxóvka) — indemnity
  • Urdu: بِیمَہ (bīmah) — indemnity
  • Uyghur: سۇغۇرتا (sughurta) — indemnity
  • Uzbek: sugʻurta — indemnity
  • Vietnamese: sự bảo hiểm — indemnity
  • Vietnamese: bảo hiểm — indemnity
  • Volapük: sur — indemnity
  • Volapük: lefilisur — indemnity
  • Welsh: insiwrans — indemnity
  • Yiddish: פֿאַרזיכערונג (farzikherung) — indemnity
  • Afrikaans: versekering — business
  • Amharic: ዋስትና (wastəna) — business
  • Arabic: تَأْمِين (taʔmīn) — business
  • Armenian: ապահովագրություն (apahovagrutʻyun) — business
  • Belarusian: страхава́нне (straxavánnje) — business
  • Bulgarian: застрахова́не (zastrahováne) — business
  • Burmese: အာမခံလုပ်ငန်း (ama.hkamlupngan:) — business
  • Catalan: assegurança — business
  • Chinese Mandarin: 保險業 /保险业 (bǎoxiǎnyè) — business
  • Czech: pojišťovna — business
  • Danish: forsikring — business
  • Finnish: vakuutusala — business
  • French: assurance — business
  • Georgian: დაზღვევა (dazɣveva) — business
  • German: Versicherung — business
  • Hindi: बीमा (bīmā) — business
  • Hungarian: biztosítószakma — business
  • Icelandic: tryggingar — business
  • Japanese: 保険業 (hokengyō) — business
  • Korean: 보험업계 (boheomeopgye) — business
  • Lao: ການປະກັນໄພ (kān pa kan phai) — business
  • Latvian: apdrošināšana — business
  • Lithuanian: draudimas — business
  • Macedonian: осигурување (osiguruvanje) — business
  • Norman: asseûthance — business
  • Persian: بیمه (bime) — business
  • Polish: ubezpieczenie — business
  • Portuguese: seguro — business
  • Romanian: asigurări — business
  • Russian: страхова́ние (straxovánije) — business
  • Slovak: poisťovňa — business
  • Spanish: seguro — business
  • Spanish: aseguración — business
  • Swahili: bima — business
  • Swedish: försäkring — business
  • Tajik: суғуртакунӣ (suġurtakuni) — business
  • Tajik: бима (bima) — business
  • Tajik: суғурта (suġurta) — business
  • Tamil: காப்பீடு (kāppīṭu) — business
  • Thai: การประกันภัย — business
  • Turkish: sigortacılık — business
  • Turkmen: strahowaniýe — business
  • Ukrainian: страхува́ння (straxuvánnja) — business
  • Uzbek: straxovaniye — business
  • Uzbek: sugʻurta — business
  • Welsh: insiwrans — business
  • Hungarian: biztonság (in a biztonság kedvéért) — metaphoric: any attempt to anticipate an unfavorable event
  • Spanish: aseguración — metaphoric: any attempt to anticipate an unfavorable event
  • Spanish: aseguramiento — metaphoric: any attempt to anticipate an unfavorable event
Real reading context

insurance in complete knowledge articles