Library / English Dictionary

CONFIRM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make more firm

Example:

Confirm thy soul in self-control!

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "confirm" is one way to...):

beef up; fortify; strengthen (make strong or stronger)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts

Example:

The evidence supports the defendant

Synonyms:

affirm; confirm; corroborate; substantiate; support; sustain

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "confirm"):

back; back up (establish as valid or genuine)

vouch (give supporting evidence)

verify (confirm the truth of)

demonstrate; establish; prove; shew; show (establish the validity of something, as by an example, explanation or experiment)

document (support or supply with references)

validate (prove valid; show or confirm the validity of something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

confirmation (additional proof that something that was believed (some fact or hypothesis or theory) is correct)

confirmation (information that confirms or verifies)

confirmative; confirmatory (serving to support or corroborate)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Strengthen or make more firm

Example:

The witnesses confirmed the victim's account

Synonyms:

confirm; reassert

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "confirm" is one way to...):

affirm (say yes to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "confirm"):

maintain; uphold (support against an opponent)

verify (attach or append a legal verification to (a pleading or petition))

corroborate; validate (give evidence for)

reconfirm (confirm again)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They confirm that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

confirmation (additional proof that something that was believed (some fact or hypothesis or theory) is correct)

confirmation (information that confirms or verifies)

confirmatory (serving to support or corroborate)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Administer the rite of confirmation to

Example:

the children were confirmed in their mother's faith

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "confirm" is one way to...):

covenant (enter into a covenant)

Domain category:

faith; organized religion; religion (an institution to express belief in a divine power)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 5

Meaning:

Support a person for a position

Example:

The Senate confirmed the President's candidate for Secretary of Defense

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "confirm" is one way to...):

approve; O.K.; okay; sanction (give sanction to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

confirmation (making something valid by formally ratifying or confirming it)

Credits

 Context examples: 

They confirmed that transplantation of the bacteria caused severe liver disease in mice.

(Bacteriophage therapy may ease severity of alcoholic hepatitis, National Institutes of Health)

These follow-up observations confirmed the presence of hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur associated with the white dwarf.

(First Giant Planet around White Dwarf Found, ESO)

In one crater that is partially sunlit, Dawn's infrared mapping spectrometer confirmed the presence of ice.

(Where is the Ice on Ceres?, NASA)

It was a simple story which he had to tell, and one which did but confirm our own deductions.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the main reason lies in the one fact, which is notorious to everyone, and that is that Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And here he was, being confirmed in his madness by the two acceptances he took such pride in telling her about.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The documentary claims expert analysis confirmed these streaks likely signify a large fire in a fuel store.

(UK documentary claims fire weakened RMS Titanic, Wikinews)

This result confirms one of the fundamental predictions of the widely accepted "cold dark matter" theory.

(Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Find Dark Matter in Small Clumps, NASA)

The study confirms that insomnia has a partially heritable basis.

(Can't Sleep? Could Be Down to Genetics, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

By viewing the vortex a second time, the new Hubble images confirm that OPAL really detected a long-lived feature.

(Hubble Imagery Confirms New Dark Spot on Neptune, NASA)