confirm
English
Alternative forms
- confirme (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English confirmen, confermen, from Old French confermer, from Latin confirmāre (“to make firm, strengthen, establish”), from com- (“together”) + firmare (“to make firm”), from firmus (“firm”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kənˈfɜːm/
- (General American) IPA(key): /kənˈfɝm/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)m
- Hyphenation: con‧firm
Verb
confirm (third-person singular simple present confirms, present participle confirming, simple past and past participle confirmed)
- To strengthen; to make firm or resolute.
- (transitive, Christianity) To administer the sacrament of confirmation on (someone).
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 215:
- She pulled through with the boy till he was confirmed; but then she told him that she could not feed him any longer; he would have to go out and earn his own bread.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 35:
- Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII, was baptized and confirmed at the age of three days.
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- To assure the accuracy of previous statements.
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Protheans: Data Discs Codex entry:
- Despite all the evidence confirming the existence of the Protheans, little is known about their culture and society. From time to time, dig sites will yield new clues, but after 50,000 years of decay, little of value is unearthed.
- 2019 March 18, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution, The Center for International Security and Cooperation:
- The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were.
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Synonyms
- (strengthen): See also Thesaurus:strengthen
Antonyms
- infirm
- disconfirm
- deny
- dispute
- contradict
- question
Derived terms
- confirm plus chop
- misconfirm
Related terms
- confirmability
- confirmation
Translations
to strengthen
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to confer the confirmation
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to assure
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
- verify
- corroborate
- establish
- prove
Further reading
- confirm in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- confirm in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- confirm at OneLook Dictionary Search