seri-, ser- +

1. To state with assurance, confidence, or force; state strongly or positively; affirm; aver: "She asserted her ownership of the diamond."
2. To maintain or defend (claims, rights, etc.).
3. To state as having existence; affirm; postulate.
4. To assert oneself, to insist on one's rights, declare one's views forcefully, etc.
5. Etymology: from Latin assert-, past participle of asserere, "to join to"; which came from ad-, "to" + serere, "to join, to connect".

1. Confidently declared to be so.
2. Strongly stated to be so but without proof; alleged.

Someone who claims to speak the truth.

1. Stating or expressing positively.
2. Declaring or affirming something solemnly and formally as true.

1. A positive statement or declaration, often without support or reason.
2. A declaration that is made emphatically (as if no supporting evidence were necessary).
3. The act of affirming or asserting or stating something.
4. A strong statement that something is true.
5. Etymology: from Old French assertion (14th century); from Late Latin assertionem, assertio; a noun of action from Latin asserere "to claim rights over something, to state, to maintain, to affirm"; from ad-, "to" + serere, "to join"; by "joining oneself" to a particular view, one "claimed" or "maintained" it.

1. Confidently aggressive or self-assured; aggressive; dogmatic.
2. Inclined to bold or confident assertions; aggressively self-assured.

In an assertive manner; affirmatively: "She walked assertively, or confidently, in front of the microphone to explain her political position."

1. Strongly insistent, self-assured, and demanding behavior.
2. Aggressive self-assurance; given to making bold assertions or emphatic statements.

1. Stated positively; affirmative; such as, an assertory declaration.
2. Affirming; maintaining; emphatically making a declaration or statement.

A succession of changes of any single heritable character.

Junction; adaptation.

1. To leave (a person, place, etc.) without intending to return; especially, in violation of a duty, promise, or the like: "He deserted his wife."
2. With reference to military personnel, to leave or run away from (service, duty, etc.) with the intention of never returning.
3. To fail (someone) at a time of need: "He felt that all of his friends had deserted him."
4. Etymology: from Old French deserter, "leave"; literally. "to undo" or "to sever a connection"; from Late Latin desertare, frequently of Latin deserere, "to abandon" from de-, "undo" plus serere, "to join".

1. An area of land, usually in very hot climates, that consists only of sand, gravel, or rock with little or no vegetation, no permanent bodies of water, and erratic rainfall.
2. a place or situation that is devoid of some desirable thing or overwhelmed by an undesirable thing: "They had to live in a town with cultural desert."
3. Etymology: from Old French desert, from Late Latin desertum; literally, "a thing abandoned", a noun use of the neuter past participle of Latin deserere, "to forsake".

1. Suitable rewards or punishments: "He will get his just deserts when he is punished for keeping his daughter locked away as his sex slave."
2. Etymology: from about 1300, borrowed from Old French deserte, past participle of deservir, "be worthy to have"; from Latin deservire, "to serve well, to devote oneself to".

1. Abandoned; forsaken: "There is the problems of deserted wives and children."
2. Untenanted; without inhabitants: "We went into the deserted farmhouse."
3. Unfrequented; lonely: "The poor victim was lured to a deserted spot."