validate
Americanverb (used with object)
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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:
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
"We will miss an opportunity if we don't have instruments on board to validate those models."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 13, 2026
Nothing would validate AI’s promise more than improving the process of creating medicines for diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
But financial data that could validate his estimate hasn’t surfaced in court records.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
He believes that, over time, neuroscience will be able to validate some of the benefits of such an experience.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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
Chief Executive Paul Prager said the lease validates TeraWulf’s strategy and establishes a long-duration revenue stream with a leading AI company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
For Saffie, it validates his belief in trusting the process and trusting himself.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 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
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
"Cyc validated that much of the knowledge that makes people experts cannot be articulated as propositions."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Some 68% of psychologists surveyed in April by the American Psychological Association said their patients felt validated by chatbots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
Legg also accused Microsoft of not sharing enough data for other scientists to scrutinise, which is how scientific research is generally either validated or dismissed by the wider expert community.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
Now, just like that, they were his “work,” validated and stolen in one fell swoop.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
"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
Co-host Yasmine Summan says seeing Armstrong headline a major festival is "really validating" but "there definitely is always room for more."
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
“It will shift the emphasis from finding issues to validating, prioritizing and fixing at a level of speed and automation to stay ahead of what will be machine-speed attackers,” Taneja said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
A strong first-quarter earnings report has extended Alphabet’s rally this year, validating the company’s substantial investments in artificial intelligence with actual revenue.
From Barron's ● May 18, 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.
