- Definite; fixed: set aside a certain sum each week.
- Sure to come or happen; inevitable: certain success.
- Established beyond doubt or question; indisputable: What is certain is that every effect must have a cause.
- Capable of being relied on; dependable: a quick and certain remedy.
- Having or showing confidence; assured.
- Not specified or identified but assumed to be known: felt that certain breeds did not make good pets.
- Named but not known or previously mentioned: a certain Ms. Johnson.
- Perceptible; noticeable: a certain charm; a certain air of mystery.
- Not great; calculable: to a certain degree; a certain delay in the schedule.
An indefinite but limited number; some: Certain of the products are faulty.
idiom:
for certain
- Without doubt; definitely.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *certānus, from Latin certus, past participle of cernere, to determine.]
SYNONYMS certain, inescapable, inevitable, sure, unavoidable. These adjectives mean impossible to avoid or evade: soldiers who knew they faced certain death; facts that led to an inescapable conclusion; an inevitable result; sudden but sure retribution; an unavoidable accident. See also synonyms at sure.
USAGE NOTE Although certain appears to be an absolute term, it is frequently qualified by adverbs, as in fairly certain or quite certain. In an earlier survey a majority of the Usage Panel accepted the construction Nothing could be more certain.





