certitude
(ˈsɜːtɪtjuːd)
[a. F. certitude certainty, objective or subjective f. late L. certitūdinem (in S. Gregory, Boethius, etc.), f. L. cert-us certain.]
1. Subjective certainty; the state of being certain or sure of anything; assured conviction of the mind that the facts are so and so; absence of doubt or hesitation; assurance, confidence. (There has been a growing tendency since the time of Hobbes to restrict the word to this sense; which, though not etymologically founded, is practically useful.)
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 183 Whiche childer..not knowenge their faders in certitude. 1554 Knox Godly Let. A iij, You wolde knowe the tyme, and what certitude I haue here off. 1656 Hobbes Liberty, Necess. & Ch. (1841) 247 An infallible certitude of the understanding in that which it knows to be, or that it shall be. 1699 Phil. Trans. XXI. 359 Moral Certitude Absolute, is that in which the Mind of Man entirely acquiesces, requiring no further Assurance. 1727 Chambers Cycl., Certitude, is properly a quality of the judgment, importing an adhesion of the mind to the proposition we affirm, or the strength wherewith we adhere to it. 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. 80 My argument is..that certitude was a habit of mind, that certainty was a quality of propositions. 1880 E. White Cert. Relig. 3 The Evangelist distinguishes between what we now term certitude—or the belief of the mind—and certainty, or the solid reality of the fact or truths believed in. 1883 Froude Short Stud. IV. ii. v. 228 The truths of faith must be held with absolute certitude. |
b. A feeling of certainty in a particular case; the opposite of a doubt. With a and pl.
| 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. ix. §89 To sound the truth of the Electors and Peoples affections, which they found entire, and with that certitude returne. 1617 Donne Serm. cxxxviii. V. 476 Delude themselves with imaginary Certitudes of Salvation. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) III. 4 Heaven..wher Desires turn to Fruition, Doubts to Certitudes. |
2. Objective certainty. ? Obs.
| 1538 Bale God's Promises in Dodsley (1780) I. 9 They come that thereof wyll shewe the certytude. c 1540 Pilgr. Tale 50 in Thynne's Animadv. (1865) App. i, For a-mongst an hundreth—this is of certitude. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 180/2 Science..hath Certitude and Stability as being conversant in things certain and stable. 1790 Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 110 It will be very long before political subjects will be reduced to geometric certitude. 1856 P. E. Dove Logic Chr. Faith Introd. 3 We have evidence of the utmost conceivable certitude. |
† b. Fixedness, permanency; invariableness. Obs.
| 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Mm vj b, Thou sawest neuer certitude in the loue of a woman. 1605 Camden Rem. 37 That there is an Orthotes or certitude of names among all Nations. |
c. Sureness of action, execution, or event; unfailing quality.
| 1597 Lowe Chirurg. (1634) 139 The excellency of it [the eye] is knowne in the certitude of the actions. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 375 That certitude which it hath in effecting any thing. 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. (1769) 107 A method, how, by a constant and regular certitude, one may express to the eye, etc. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile iv. 91 Expressed with masterly certitude. 1886 Swinburne in Athenæum 10 July 49/1 Trust in the certitude of compensatory justice. |