confer
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to bestow upon as a gift, favor, honor, etc..
to confer a degree on a graduate.
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Obsolete. to compare.
verb
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(tr; foll by on or upon) to grant or bestow (an honour, gift, etc)
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(intr) to hold or take part in a conference or consult together
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(tr) an obsolete word for compare
Related Words
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of confer
First recorded in 1400–50 for earlier sense “to summon”; 1520–30 for current senses; late Middle English conferen, from Latin conferre “to bring together, compare, consult with,” equivalent to con- “with, together, completely” ( see con-) + ferre “to carry, bear” ( see bear 1)
Explanation
If you gab, chat, and talk it up with someone, you have conversation, but if you're looking for input from each other as you talk, you confer, or consult, together. They had a family meeting to confer about a schedule for sharing the new laptop. Many uses of the verb confer involve consulting with another person or as a group. Confer has a second use meaning "bestow," which means to award or hand over something. You can confer a medal on a winner or hero, or you can confer status through a promotion or assignment. Each year the teacher would confer the special honor of summer hamster-sitter on one responsible student.
Vocabulary lists containing confer
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"The Great Gatsby," Chapter 1 Vocabulary
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Refugee
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The other signatories were Luis Argüello, president of the Episcopal Conference and leader of the Spanish Catholic Church, and Jesús Díaz Sariego, president of Confer, which represents Catholic congregations and religious orders.
From BBC • Jan. 8, 2026
Confer, who was Black, had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma two years before.
From Salon • Oct. 2, 2022
Ralph Confer, of the Memphis Police Department, was on duty at Regional One Health medical center on Sept. 20, a day during which employees were holding a cookout in a police holding area.
From Fox News • Oct. 10, 2019
Some of the bird’s fluffiness may also come from the owl plumping up its feathers to look bigger to a potential predator, says John Confer, scholar in residence at Ithaca College.
From National Geographic • Jul. 27, 2015
Now, seated in the olive's sacred shade, Confer the hero and the martial maid.
From The Odyssey by Pope, Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
