assure

1. to make safe (as from risks or against overthrow) : insure
2. to give confidence to
3. to make sure or certain : convince
4. to inform positively
5. to make certain the coming or attainment of : guarantee

2 : and hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts — 1 John 3:19

3 : He glanced back to assure himself that no onw was following.

4 : I assure you that we can do it.

5 : The man worked hard to assure accuracy.

by saugirl January 23, 2010

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mutually assured destruction

1. A position whereby the United States and the USSR - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - would in a nuclear war, be able to destroy each other with their arsenals of nuclear weapons. Each maintaining the possibility to strike the other even if one party fired first. The phrase mutually assured destruction thereby implies that both parties assumed the ability to strike and destroy the other. A catastrophic eventuality if it ever arose. Both parties thus maintained this position, assuring each other than nuclear weapons would not be used, even if a conventional war broke out. The downfall of the Soviet system and emergence of the Russian federation did not make a nuclear war ineffectual, rather it maintains that the two parties still have the capability - and underscores the fact that a nuclear war between these nuclear giants is an inevitability.
2. While this term is specifically used to term the USA and Russia, it may also be applied to China as the latter has built an intercontinental ballistic arsenal that would be deployable if the USA and China ever faced off.

by situationst September 2, 2003

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