insurance
noun
[ ɪnˈʃʊər(ə)ns ]
• an arrangement by which a company or the state undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a specified premium.
• "many new borrowers take out insurance against unemployment or sickness"
• a thing providing protection against a possible eventuality.
• "jackets were hung on the back of their chairs, insurance against an encounter with air-conditioning"
Similar:
protection,
defence,
safeguard,
safety measure,
shelter,
security,
precaution,
provision,
preventive measure,
immunity,
guarantee,
warranty,
backstop,
Origin:
late Middle English (originally as ensurance in the sense ‘ensuring, assurance, a guarantee’): from Old French enseurance, from enseurer (see ensure). insurance (sense 1) dates from the mid 17th century.
