confirm

English

Alternative forms

• confirme (obsolete)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French confermer, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin confirmāre (“to make firm, strenghten, establish”), from com- (“together”) + firmare (“to make firm”), from firmus (“firm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈfɜːm/
• 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)

1. To strengthen; to make firm or resolute.
2. (transitive, Christianity) To administer the sacrament of confirmation on (someone).
   • 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.

3. To assure the accuracy of previous statements.
   • 2019 March 18, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution‎^[1], 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.

Synonyms

• (strengthen): See also Thesaurus:strengthen

Antonyms

• infirm
• disconfirm
• deny
• dispute
• contradict
• question

Related terms

• confirmability
• confirmation

Translations

to strengthen

• Bulgarian: потвържда́вам (bg) (potvǎrždávam), подкрепям (bg) (podkrepjam)
• Finnish: vahvistaa (fi)
• Hungarian: megerősít (hu)
• Maori: whakaturuma
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bekrefte, stadfeste

  Nynorsk: bekrefte, stadfeste

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: firmar (pt)
• Romanian: confirma (ro)
• Russian: укрепля́ть (ru) impf (ukrepljátʹ), укрепи́ть (ru) pf (ukrepítʹ); уси́ливать (ru) impf (usílivatʹ), уси́лить (ru) pf (usílitʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: učvŕstiti (sh), utvŕditi (sh)
• Swedish: bekräfta (sv)

to confer the confirmation

• Catalan: confirmar (ca)
• Czech: biřmovat (cs)
• Danish: bekræfte (da)
• Finnish: konfirmoida
• Galician: confirmar (gl)
• German: bestätigen (de)
• Hungarian: bérmál (hu), konfirmál
• Icelandic: ferma
• Italian: cresimare (it)
• Latin: ratihabeo
• Luxembourgish: bestätegen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whakaū
• Norwegian: bekrefte

  Bokmål: konfirmere

  Nynorsk: konfirmere

• Polish: bierzmować (pl)
• Portuguese: confirmar (pt)
• Romanian: confirma (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: krȉzmati (sh)
• Spanish: confirmar (es)
• Swedish: befästa (sv), bekräfta (sv), konfirmera (sv)
• Ukrainian: підтве́рджувати impf (pidtvérdžuvaty), підтве́рдити pf (pidtvérdyty), стве́рджувати impf (stvérdžuvaty)

to assure

• Arabic: أَكَّدَ (ʔakkada), أَثْبَتَ (ar) (ʔaṯbata)
• Armenian: հավաստիացնել (hy) (havastiacʻnel)
• Belarusian: пацвярджа́ць (pacvjardžácʹ), пацвердзі́ць pf (pacvjerdzícʹ)
• Bulgarian: потвържда́вам (bg) (potvǎrždávam), утвържда́вам (utvǎrždávam)
• Catalan: confirmar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 證實／证实 (zh) (zhèngshí), 证实 (zh) (zhèngshí)

• Czech: potvrdit (cs)
• Danish: forvisse, forsikre, bekræfte (da)
• Dutch: bevestigen (nl), beamen (nl)
• Esperanto: konfirmi (eo)
• Finnish: vahvistaa (fi)
• French: confirmer (fr)
• Galician: confirmar (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: bestätigen (de), bekräftigen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: βεβαιόω (bebaióō)

• Hungarian: megerősít (hu)
• Ido: verigar (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: confermare (it)
• Japanese: 確認する (ja) (かくにんする, kakunin-suru)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: confirmō
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Ngazidja Comorian: uswadikisha
• Norman: confirmer
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bekfrefte, forsikre om, forsikre om

  Nynorsk: bekrefte

• Polish: potwierdzać (pl)
• Portuguese: confirmar (pt)
• Russian: подтвержда́ть (ru) impf (podtverždátʹ), подтверди́ть (ru) pf (podtverdítʹ); подкрепля́ть (ru) impf (podkrepljátʹ), подкрепи́ть (ru) pf (podkrepítʹ);
• Serbo-Croatian: potvŕditi (sh)
• Spanish: confirmar (es)
• Swedish: konfirmera (sv), försäkra (sv), bekräfta (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: підтве́рджувати impf (pidtvérdžuvaty), підтве́рдити pf (pidtvérdyty), підкріпля́ти impf (pidkripljáty), підкріпи́ти pf (pidkripýty)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

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

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} يؤكد
• (deprecated template usage) Hebrew: לאשר (le'asher) (3)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) Italian: confermare (1), cresimare (2)

See also

• verify
• corroborate
• establish
• prove

Further reading

• “confirm”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “confirm”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “confirm”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.