sure thing
Americannoun
-
something that is or is supposed to be a certain success, as a bet or a business venture.
He thinks that real estate is a sure thing.
-
something assured; certainty.
It's a sure thing that he'll refuse to cooperate.
interjection
adverb
noun
-
a sure thing . A certainty, as in Making the bestseller list has been a sure thing for Stephen King . This usage originally alluded to a bet that one could not lose. [First half of 1800s]
-
Yes indeed, certainly, as in Are you coming tonight?—Sure thing! This use of the idiom as an interjection dates from the late 1800s.
Etymology
Origin of sure thing
An Americanism dating back to 1830–40
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As a Glitcher, it was my job to make sure things stayed exactly the way the history books described without interference from a Butterfly.
From Literature
He viewed the transaction as a sure thing, like a bond with equity-sized returns.
Some might hope that Nvidia could provide a suitable distraction when chip maker reports on Wednesday, but the worries about the disruptive impacts of artificial intelligence mean that’s no longer a sure thing.
From Barron's
But it was still far from a sure thing that Liu could breeze her way to an individual Olympic title.
“I’m not a sure thing,” she told me earlier this winter.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
