confirm

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /kənˈfɜːm/, US /kənˈfɝːm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English confirmyen, confermen, borrowed from Old French confermer (“to strengthen, establish”) and directly from Latin cōnfirmāre (“to make firm, strengthen”),^[2][3][4] from con- (here intensive) and firmāre (“to strengthen”), from firmus (“firm, steadfast”).^[2][3][4] It is related to firm.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To ratify or make valid by a legal act: before 1250 in Barnhart, the mid-13th century in Etymonline.^[3][2] The OED's first quotation, for “make firm, strengthen”, is from before 1300.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Ratifying a person in an office is from 1297.^[6] Administering the church rite of confirmation is from about 1315,^[6] and confirmation itself from about 1303.^[3] To make certain, to verify the truth of something, is from the late 14th century.^[2] To strengthen someone in an opinion or purpose is from 1485.^[6] Confirmed, firmly established in a habit, as in a confirmed bachelor, is from about 1350.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1250 – to ratify.^[3]
• 1297 – to ratify a person in an office.^[6]
• c. 1315 – to administer confirmation.^[6]
• late 14th century – to verify.^[2]
• 1485 – to strengthen in an opinion.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To show or state that something is true or correct; to verify.
2. To make an arrangement definite: confirm a booking.
3. To make a belief or feeling stronger.
4. To make something valid by a formal act; to ratify.
5. To admit someone to full membership of a church by the rite of confirmation.

Word family

• confirmability
• confirmable
• confirmer
• confirmingly
• preconfirm
• unconfirm
• reconfirm

Related words

• confirmation
• firm
• affirm

Usage notes

Among its synonyms, confirm usually suggests removing all doubt about something that was uncertain, while corroborate means supporting a statement with further evidence, and substantiate means proving it with solid evidence.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin