How to Use ascertain in a Sentence

ascertain

verb
Definition of ascertainnext
Synonyms for ascertainnext
  • By measuring the weight of the insect catch -- known as the biomass -- from each of the Malaise traps, researchers were able to ascertain the drop in insect numbers.
    — Euan McKirdy, CNN, 19 Oct. 2017
  • These clues helped Siver ascertain that at one point, winters in Canada's northwest never fell below freezing.
    — Matt Ormseth, courant.com, 3 Aug. 2017
  • Details of the issues with Apple couldn't immediately be ascertained.
    — Reuters, Fortune, 25 Sep. 2017
  • Whether the group set a speed record is hard to ascertain.
    — Beth Bragg, Anchorage Daily News, 31 Aug. 2019
  • With his books closed to outsiders, the truth was hard to ascertain.
    — Michael D'antonio, CNN, 20 Jan. 2022
  • Police have not yet been able to ascertain why the ATV flipped.
    — Chris Mayhew, The Enquirer, 12 May 2021
  • But did the Rams call the Packers to ascertain whether Rodgers was available?
    — Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2021
  • In fact, these practices are designed to ascertain what is the truth.
    — Time, 11 Sep. 2017
  • From the very first episode, O’Neill and Schmidt are at each other’s throats for reasons that are hard to ascertain.
    — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 1 Mar. 2018
  • More needs to be done to ascertain the intent and the actions of the ship throughout its travels.
    — Ariel Cohen, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2021
  • The man appears to be injured, but the extent of his injuries is hard to ascertain based on the video.
    — Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 23 June 2024
  • The researchers couldn’t ascertain the exact species of the squids in the videos (there are three in the Magnapinna genus).
    — Rachael Zisk, Popular Science, 13 Nov. 2020
  • For hours, the men pulled out bodies, one by one, trying to ascertain who was alive, who was dead.
    — Rozina Ali, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2022
  • The true scope of the problem is hard to ascertain and address, a lawmaker said.
    — Mike Levine, ABC News, 14 June 2023
  • And for a guy that was born blind, Midón utilizes all his senses to ascertain the big picture.
    — Grant Yanney, NBC News, 12 May 2017
  • The fashion developments of scrubs can be hard to ascertain with the naked eye.
    — New York Times, 9 June 2021
  • And the goal is to just ascertain which kinds of students were most likely to have miss school during the pandemic?
    — Shannon Rae Green, USA TODAY, 22 Aug. 2021
  • Clearly, the goal of this documentary isn’t to solve the mystery of her death or to ascertain whether there was foul play.
    — Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2020
  • For example, staffers tried to ascertain exactly where the source shot the video.
    — Brian Stelter, CNN, 21 Oct. 2019
  • In her first days on the job, Burleigh’s main goal was to ascertain two things — the pre-existing strengths of the Pride team and why those strengths have worked so far this season.
    — Julia Poe, orlandosentinel.com, 31 July 2021
  • For example, the Navy wanted to ascertain whether there was land between the northern coasts of Alaska and the pole.
    — David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 9 Jan. 2022
  • The first person to ascertain that is the squatter on the Gardners’ land, Ezra (Chong, of course), but who would believe this stoner?
    — G. Allen Johnson, SFChronicle.com, 22 Jan. 2020
  • This will ascertain their true motivation and fit for the role.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes, 29 June 2021
  • The regular season left us all as blind men with the elephant, unable to ascertain what was in front of us.
    — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Apr. 2022
  • This recount was necessary to ascertain the will of the voters.
    — Matthew Alvarez, The Mercury News, 9 May 2024
  • Unable to enter the burning home, the deputy broke windows and tried to ascertain whether anyone was inside the house.
    — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Dec. 2021
  • This muddies the waters and makes any real change brought about by the ACA to date difficult to ascertain.
    — Gus Alexiou, Forbes, 24 Oct. 2021
  • Dujarric stressed that the board will only ascertain the facts of the attacks and will not assess blame.
    — Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2019
  • The mystery as to why may be extremely difficult to ascertain.
    — Jeanne Timmons, Ars Technica, 17 Sep. 2024
  • Phillips told the outlet that the Navy will investigate the letter to ascertain its authenticity and the sender's identity.
    — David Chiu, Peoplemag, 9 Aug. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ascertain.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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