All 3 Uses of
assert
in
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- At length, a fresh difference arising between my brother and me, I took upon me to assert my freedom, presuming that he would not venture to produce the new indentures.†
- I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of my own.†
*
- When another asserted something that I thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there appear'd or seem'd to me some difference, etc. I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I engag'd in went on more pleasantly.†
Definition:
-
(assert as in: asserted her opinion that...) to say that something is true -- especially something disputed