insurance /ɪnˈʃʊər(ə)ns /
▸ noun [mass noun]
1 an arrangement by which a company or the state undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a specified premium:
many new borrowers take out insurance against unemployment or sickness.
▪ the business of providing insurance:
Howard is in insurance.
▪ money paid for insurance:
my insurance has gone up.
▪ money paid out as compensation under an insurance policy:
when will I be able to collect the insurance?
2 a thing providing protection against a possible eventuality:
jackets were hung on the back of their chairs, insurance against an encounter with air-conditioning |
[count noun] a marquee was hired as an insurance against the weather.
– ORIGIN late Middle English (originally as ensurance in the sense ‘ensuring, assurance, a guarantee’): from Old French enseurance, from enseurer (see ensure). SENSE 1 dates from the mid 17th cent.
USAGE:
There is a technical distinction between insurance and assurance in the context of life insurance: see usage at assurance.