Legal Dictionary

guarantee

Legal Definition of guarantee

Noun

  1. guarantor
  2. an assurance that a condition will be fulfilled: as (a) an agreement by which one person undertakes to secure another in the possession or enjoyment of something (b) an assurance of the quality or of the length of use to be expected from a product offered for sale often with a promise of reimbursement

Definition of guarantee

Etymology

    Probably from Spanish garante. Compare guaranty, warranty.

Pronunciation

Noun

guarantee (plural guarantees)

  1. Anything that assures a certain outcome.

    Can you give me a guarantee that he will be fit for the match?

  2. A written declaration that a certain product will be fit for a purpose and work correctly.

    The cooker comes with a 5-year guarantee.

  3. A person who gives such a guarantee; a guarantor.

Verb

to guarantee (third-person singular simple present guarantees, present participle guaranteeing, simple past and past participle guaranteed)

  1. To assure that something will get done right.
  2. To assume responsibility for a debt.
  3. To make something certain.

    The long sunny days guarantee a good crop.

Related terms

Usage

There are several uses of the word "guarantee" in today's parlance, however the following should be used in legal documents. Guaranty is the actual document containing language of assurance. Guarantor is the entity giving the guaranty and guarantee is the entity receiving the guaranty. Following conventional English spelling rules, therefore, the plural of guaranty or verb usage of the word should be guaranties, as in "The seller (guarantor) guaranties something to the buyer (guarantee)."

References:

  1. Wiktionary. Published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.



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