Definition of confirm

< confinement

confirmation >

con·firm    (kn-fûrm) KEY 

TRANSITIVE VERB:
con·firmed, con·firm·ing, con·firms

1. To support or establish the certainty or validity of; verify.
2. To make firmer; strengthen: Working on the campaign confirmed her intention to go into politics.
3. To make valid or binding by a formal or legal act; ratify.
4. To administer the religious rite of confirmation to.

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ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English confirmen, from Old French confermer, from Latin cnfirmre : com-, intensive pref. ; see com- + firmre, to strengthen (from firmus, strong; see dher- in Indo-European roots)

OTHER FORMS:
con·firma·bili·ty(Noun), con·firma·ble(Adjective), con·firma·tory  (-fûrm-tôr, -tr) KEY (Adjective), con·firmer(Noun)

SYNONYMS:
confirm, corroborate, substantiate, authenticate, validate, verify

These verbs mean to affirm the truth, accuracy, or genuineness of something. Confirm implies removal of all doubt: "We must never make experiments to confirm our ideas, but simply to control them" (Claude Bernard). Corroborate refers to supporting something by means of strengthening evidence: The witness is expected to corroborate the plaintiff's testimony. To substantiate is to establish by presenting substantial or tangible evidence: "one of the most fully substantiated of historical facts" (James Harvey Robinson). Authenticate implies the establishment of genuineness of something by the testimony of an expert: Never purchase an antique before it has been authenticated. Validate refers to establishing the validity of something, such as a theory, claim, or judgment: The divorce validated my parents' original objection to the marriage. Verify implies proving by comparison with an original or with established fact: The bank refused to cash the check until the signature was verified.