- To support or establish the certainty or validity of; verify.
- To make firmer; strengthen: Working on the campaign confirmed her intention to go into politics.
- To make valid or binding by a formal or legal act; ratify.
- To administer the religious rite of confirmation to.
[Middle English confirmen, from Old French confermer, from Latin cōnfirmāre : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + firmāre, to strengthen (from firmus, strong).]
confirmability con·firm'a·bil'i·ty n.confirmable con·firm'a·ble adj.
confirmatory con·firm'a·to'ry (-fûr'mə-tôr'ē, -tōr'ē) adj.
confirmer con·firm'er n.
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.
