validation

Etymology

It is formed from English validate + -ion;^[2][3][4][5] the OED compares French validation (16th century), Spanish validación, Italian validazione and Portuguese validação.^[2] The verb comes from the past participle of Medieval Latin validō (“to make valid”), recorded in 1394, or from French valider (1586),^[2][3][4] and the Medieval Latin verb from Latin validus (“strong, effective”), the source of valid,^[4][3] from valeō (“to be strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *wal- (“to be strong”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of making something valid: 1656, in Thomas Blount's Glossographia, which followed Cotgrave's French dictionary.^[2][3] Etymonline gives the sense as the giving of validity, a strengthening or confirming.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun followed its verb: validate meant to make or declare legally valid from about 1648, to confirm or substantiate from 1775, and to check something for correctness or bias from 1957.^[2] So validation came to be used for the testing of a method or instrument, and Merriam-Webster singles out the measuring of how far a test or measuring device is valid.^[3] Its attributive use, as in computing, dates from 1965.^[2] In psychology, from 1960, validation (in full personal validation) is the feeling of being valued and worthwhile, or the affirmation that one's feelings and opinions are justified;^[2] the verb had this sense from 1951.^[2] Barry Popik records a sarcastic saying of 2024 about spending hours on the internet seeking validation from strangers.^[6]

Timeline

• 1656 – the action of making valid.^[2][3]
• 1960 – psychology, the feeling of being valued; affirmation of one's feelings.^[2]
• 1965 – attributive use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of validating: making something legally valid, or confirming that it is correct or acceptable: the validation of the agreement by both parliaments.^[3][2]
2. The testing of how far a method, test or measuring instrument is valid and measures what it claims to.^[3]
3. Recognition or affirmation that a person's feelings, views or worth are justified: She no longer needed his validation.^[2]

Word family

• revalidation
• cross-validation

Related words

• validate
• valid
• invalidate
• value
• avail

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
6. ^ Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "You only live once so make sure you spend 15 hours a day on the internet seeking validation from strangers", 12 October 2024