assertion

[uh-sur-shuh n] /əˈsɜr ʃən/

noun

a positive statement or declaration, often without support or reason:

a mere assertion; an unwarranted assertion.

an act of asserting.

Origin

1375-1425; late Middle English assercion < Latin assertiōn- (stem of assertiō). See assert, -ion

Related forms

assertional, adjective

misassertion, noun

nonassertion, noun

overassertion, noun

reassertion, noun

superassertion, noun

Synonyms

1. claim, contention, allegation.

Examples from the web for assertion

But currently all I see is an unsubstantiated assertion.
Few contemporary data support the assertion that eyewitnesses are important in police investigations.
The final statement in the quote is simply a dogmatic assertion.
Their assertion is that 10% of Americans determine how the rest consume and live by chatting about their likes and dislikes.
This is possible, but certainly not definitively established by your assertion.
It was about my assertion that searching online was great, but that nothing beats face-to-face contacts.
In this way we experience, in our turn, the assertion of memory.
You are incorrect in your assertion regarding figures-of-speech.
In light of recent literary criticism, my assertion may seem wrongheaded.
The other assertion—that monetary expansion isn't doing anything—is wrong, or is at least premature.

British Dictionary definitions for assertion

assertion

/əˈsɜːʃən/

noun

a positive statement, usually made without an attempt at furnishing evidence

the act of asserting

Word Origin and History for assertion

early 15c., assercioun, from Middle French assertion (14c.) or directly from Late Latin assertionem (nominative assertio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin asserere "claim rights over something, state, maintain, affirm," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + serere "join" (see series). By "joining oneself" to a particular view, one "claimed" or "maintained" it.

assertion in Technology

programming
1. An expression which, if false, indicates an error. Assertions are used for debugging by catching can't happen errors.
2. In logic programming, a new fact or rule added to the database by the program at run time. This is an extralogical or impure feature of logic programming languages.
(1997-06-30)