affirm

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French afermer, affermer, from Latin affirmare, adfirmare (“to present as fixed, aver, affirm”), from ad (“to”) + firmare (“to make firm”), from firmus (“firm”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)m

Verb

affirm (third-person singular simple present affirms or (archaic) affirmeth, present participle affirming, simple past and past participle affirmed)

1. To agree, verify or concur; to answer positively.

   She affirmed that she would go when I asked her.

2. To support or encourage

   They did everything they could to affirm the children's self-confidence.

Antonyms

• deny

Related terms

• affirmation
• affirmative

Translations

to agree with or verify

• German: zustimmen (de), bejahen (de), bestätigen (de)
• Latin: dico (la)

• Spanish: afirmar (es)

to support or encourage

• German: unterstützen (de)
• Latin: dico (la)

• Spanish: afirmar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian твърдя (bg) (tvǎrdja), заявявам (bg) (zajavjavam)
• Japanese 断言する (ja) (dangen suru)

See also

• affirmative action
• confirm

External links

• affirm in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• affirm in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• affirm at OneLook Dictionary Search