Meanings
- obsoleteAn exclamation of surprise.
“My dear, I never saw him.” “And I never saw him !” returned Ada. Well, to be sure!
1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House1 more example
[…]words that were quickly interrupted by a murmur of dismay at finding the room in total darkness. "Well to be sure! The lamp must have gone out!" she exclaimed,
1895, Marie Corelli, The Sorrows of Satan: or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, published 1896, →OCLC, page 21Synonyms: well, I never, wow, I'll be
Synonyms & antonyms
interjectionAn exclamation of surprise.
Cite this entry
well, to be sure. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/well%2C%20to%20be%20sure
“well, to be sure.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/well%2C%20to%20be%20sure. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “well, to be sure,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/well%2C%20to%20be%20sure.
Source: well, to be sure on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.