confirmation

[ kon-fer-mey-shuhn ]
See synonyms for confirmation on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an act or instance of confirming, or of establishing someone or something, as by verifying, approving, or corroborating: The study is an attempt at the scientific confirmation of previous anecdotal results.The nomination and confirmation of this candidate as Court of Appeals Judge is a step in the right direction.

  2. Religion.

    • a rite in some Christian churches, in which baptized individuals profess their faith, are accorded status as full members, and, in some denominations, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    • a solemn ceremony among Reform and certain Conservative Jews, admitting young people to adult membership in the Jewish community after completion of a prescribed course of study.

  1. something that confirms, as a corroborative statement or piece of evidence: His birth certificate served as confirmation of his citizenship.

Origin of confirmation

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old French and Latin confirmātiōn-, stem of confirmātiō; see confirm, -ation

Other words from confirmation

  • con·fir·ma·tion·al, adjective
  • non·con·fir·ma·tion, noun
  • pre·con·fir·ma·tion, noun
  • re·con·fir·ma·tion, noun
  • self-con·fir·ma·tion, noun
  • su·per·con·fir·ma·tion, noun

Words Nearby confirmation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use confirmation in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for confirmation

confirmation

/ (ˌkɒnfəˈmeɪʃən) /


noun
  1. the act of confirming

  2. something that confirms; verification

  1. a rite in several Christian churches that confirms a baptized person in his or her faith and admits him or her to full participation in the church

  2. (in the philosophy of science) the relationship between an observation and the theory which it supposedly renders more probable: Compare hypothetico-deductive

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012