CONFIRM
confirm
(verb) make more firm; “Confirm thy soul in self-control!”
confirm, corroborate, sustain, substantiate, support, affirm
(verb) establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts; “his story confirmed my doubts”; “The evidence supports the defendant”
confirm, reassert
(verb) strengthen or make more firm; “The witnesses confirmed the victim’s account”
confirm
(verb) administer the rite of confirmation to; “the children were confirmed in their mother’s faith”
confirm
(verb) support a person for a position; “The Senate confirmed the President’s candidate for Secretary of Defense”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
confirm (third-person singular simple present confirms, present participle confirming, simple past and past participle confirmed)
To strengthen; to make firm or resolute.
(transitive, Christianity) To administer the sacrament of confirmation on (someone).
To assure the accuracy of previous statements.
Synonyms
• (strengthen): See also strengthen
Antonyms
• infirm
• disconfirm
• deny
• dispute
• contradict
• question
Source: Wiktionary
Con*firm", v. t. [imp. & p.p. Confrmed; p.pr. & vb.n. Confirming.]
Etym: [OE. confermen, confirmen, OF. confermer, F. confirmer, fr. L.
confirmare; con- + firmare to make firm, fr. firmus firm. See Firm.]
1. To make firm or firmer; to add strength to; to establish; as,
health is confirmed by exercise.
Confirm the crown to me and to mine heirs. Shak.
Annd confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law. Ps. cv. 10.
2. To strengthen in judgment or purpose.
Confirmed, then, I resolve Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe.
Milton.
3. To give new assurance of the truth of; to render certain; to
verify; to corroborate; as, to confirm a rumor.
Your eyes shall witness and confirm my tale. Pope.
These likelihoods confirm her flight. Shak.
4. To render valid by formal assent; to complete by a necessary
sanction; to ratify; as, to confirm the appoinment of an official;
the Senate confirms a treaty.
That treaty so prejudicial ought to have been remitted rather than
confimed. Swift.
5. (Eccl.)
Definition: To administer the rite of confirmation to. See Confirmation, 3.
Those which are thus confirmed are thereby supposed to be fit for
admission to the sacrament. Hammond.
Syn.
– To strengthen; corroborate; substantiate; establish; fix; ratify;
settle; verify; assure.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition