Sample sentences for ASCERTAIN

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Definition

find out, learn, or determine with certainty (usually by making an effort)

A committee was formed to ascertain the level of public support for a new bike path.

The slaveholders have been known to send in spies among their slaves, to ascertain their views and feelings in regard to their condition.
Douglass, Frederick -- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave
Looking cautiously round, to ascertain that they were not overheard, the two hags cowered nearer to the fire, and chuckled heartily.
Dickens, Charles -- Oliver Twist Or The Parish Boy's Progress
After consulting a tree to ascertain from its lichen which way was south, and taking no lip from the subordinates who ventured to correct him, Colonel Maycomb set out on a purposeful journey to rout the enemy and entangled his troops so far northwest in the forest primeval that they were eventually rescued by settlers moving inland.
Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird

ascertain = determine

To ascertain the truth, we focus more intently on the screen.
Haruki Murakami -- After Dark

ascertain = find out or learn

When the new wore off his grandfather's watch, and carrying it became a day's burdensome task, Jem no longer felt the necessity of ascertaining the hour every five minutes.
Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird

ascertaining = determining

Every effort should be made to find the secretary, Stangerson, and to ascertain some particulars of the habits of the deceased.
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan -- A Study In Scarlet
See first that the design is wise and just: that ascertained, pursue it resolutely;
William Shakespeare
They returned without being able to ascertain anything.
Irving, Washington -- The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A., in the Rocky Mountains and the far West
"But we—" she glanced at him as if to ascertain his position, "we see each other only now and then—"
Woolf, Virginia -- Night and Day
Whether any boats visited the bay that morning or not, I never could ascertain.
Melville, Herman -- Typee
She felt a morbid desire to ascertain the point.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel -- The Scarlet Letter
A reconnoitring party was sent up the river to ascertain the truth of the report.
Irving, Washington -- Astoria or Anecdotes of an enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains
Suppose I see two individuals approaching whose rank I wish to ascertain.
Abbott, Edwin -- Flatland
But, as the reader of this will have ascertained (if there ever is a reader) the idea of being Dragged Down holds no terror for me.
Donna Tartt -- The Goldfinch
Sam stopped at one that offered maps, and looked over a hand-drawn map of Citadel to ascertain the shortest way to the Seneschal's Court.
George R.R. Martin -- A Feast For Crows
Why she was so busy it was hard to ascertain; she had an excellent housekeeper, a noble butler, and two nurses for the baby.
Sinclair Lewis -- Arrowsmith
Would the two, for his enlightenment, try to ascertain just what they had in common, and why they belonged to the same party?
Upton Sinclair -- The Jungle
"Yes, we came up that way," he said, after ascertaining his bearings.
Thomas Hardy -- The Mayor of Casterbridge
And by this ascertained standard, White Fang treated them accordingly.
Jack London -- White Fang

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