validate
Americanverb (used with object)
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validates,
present (3rd person singular)
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validated,
past participle, past
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validating
present participle
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to make valid; substantiate; confirm.
Time validated our suspicions.
- Synonyms:
- prove, verify, authenticate
- Antonyms:
- disprove
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to give legal force to; legalize.
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to give official sanction, confirmation, or approval to, as elected officials, election procedures, documents, etc..
to validate a passport.
verb
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to confirm or corroborate
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to give legal force or official confirmation to; declare legally valid
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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validationnoun
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validatornoun
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revalidateverb (used with object)
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unvalidatedadjective
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unvalidatingadjective
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validatoryadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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validatesimple
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validatessimple
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have validatedperfect
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has validatedperfect
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am validatingprogressive
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are validatingprogressive
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is validatingprogressive
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have been validatingperfect progressive
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has been validatingperfect progressive
Past
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validatedsimple
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had validatedperfect
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was validatingprogressive
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were validatingprogressive
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had been validatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of validate
First recorded in 1640–50; from Medieval Latin validātus (past participle of validāre “to make valid”), equivalent to valid- ( see valid) + -ātus past participle suffix ( see -ate 1)
Explanation
To validate is to prove that something is based on truth or fact, or is acceptable. It can also mean to make something, like a contract, legal. You may need someone to validate your feelings, which means that you want to hear, “No, you’re not crazy. It’s acceptable to be angry about that.” Or you may need someone to validate your parking ticket — which means you have to prove that you bought something, so you can get parking for free. Whatever it is you are seeking to validate needs the added support or action from someone else to make it valid.
Vocabulary lists containing validate
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 2
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The New SAT: The Language of the Test
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The ACT: The Language of the Test, List 3
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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.
See Examples For:
Anthropomorphic language can inadvertently shift attention away from the real engineering challenges: ensuring AI systems validate assumptions, distinguish simulations from production environments and operate within appropriate safeguards before taking consequential actions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
There is not a speck of evidence to validate that theory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Rather than rushing to validate the president’s claims, chief political anchor Bret Baier immediately offered a stark, legally cautious disclaimer to his audience.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
His conclusion was blunt: "You must have officials within the system who will validate your corrupt behaviour."
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Grand visions, even ones that prove as prescient as Washington’s, must nevertheless negotiate the damnable particularities that history in the short run tosses up before history in the long run arrives to validate the vision.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
So, seeing that play out in the public sphere only validates that concern.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Though she said the win validates her decision to come to Glasgow, she defended the decision of others to withdraw.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Max Cady either validates the paranoia of upstanding men obsessed with protecting or dominating women, or the disdain felt by those whom such men look down upon.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
“The Anthropic lease validates our strategy and establishes a long-duration revenue stream with one of the world’s leading AI companies,” TeraWulf CEO Paul Prager said in a statement.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
If you have a heterogeneous class make up of many different ethnicities, abilities, races, providing activities validates who they are as people, and sends a message that their voices are valued.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
In the 1990s, Sandra Scarr provided research that partially validated and expanded on Winnicott’s ideas.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
Unlike traditional computers, where outputs can be validated by running the same problem on other computers, some quantum computer outputs push beyond the limits of what classical computers can verify.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Over the weekend, an uneasy ceasefire established itself across the Persian Gulf, suggesting Signum’s theories had been borne out and validated by events.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
“Finally, I really felt I was accepted as a comedian, validated for who I am.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
She’s just validated what my life’s been like for the past few months.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Layla says she has always given herself a hard time for not "coming up to scratch" but that taking part in the research project has felt "validating and freeing".
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
"The next steps will involve validating these findings in animal models of early post-traumatic osteoarthritis and studying how ultrasound-based modulation affects long-term tissue repair in joint injury settings," Subramanian says.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
The conflict has functioned as an accelerated stress test, compressing years of operational learning into months and validating or refuting assumptions about real-world system performance.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
Intel’s stock rose over 500% in 12 months, with packaging seen as key to attracting foundry clients and validating EMIB.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
He didn’t want to get into this again, to be forced to appease Luke while still validating the fact that he went to the Deuce.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
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.
