authenticate
Americanverb (used with object)
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authenticates,
present (3rd person singular)
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authenticated,
past participle, past
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authenticating
present participle
-
to establish as genuine.
- Synonyms:
- substantiate, validate, confirm
-
to establish the authorship or origin of conclusively or unquestionably, chiefly by the techniques of scholarship.
to authenticate a painting.
-
to make authoritative or valid.
verb
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to establish as genuine or valid
-
to give authority or legal validity to
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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authenticationnoun
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authenticatornoun
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nonauthenticationnoun
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reauthenticateverb (used with object)
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authenticatableadjective
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nonauthenticatedadjective
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self-authenticatingadjective
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unauthenticatedadjective
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well-authenticatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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authenticatesimple
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authenticatessimple
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have authenticatedperfect
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has authenticatedperfect
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am authenticatingprogressive
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are authenticatingprogressive
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is authenticatingprogressive
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have been authenticatingperfect progressive
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has been authenticatingperfect progressive
Past
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authenticatedsimple
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had authenticatedperfect
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was authenticatingprogressive
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were authenticatingprogressive
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had been authenticatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of authenticate
First recorded in 1565–75; from Medieval Latin authenticātus “made authentic” (past participle of authenticāre ). See authentic, -ate 1
Explanation
When you authenticate something, you establish that it’s the real thing. If you authenticate a painting, for example, you’re sure that it's an original work, not a copy. The verb authenticate came into English in the seventeenth century by way of the Latin word authenticat-, meaning “established as valid.” You’ve probably heard it to mean that a valuable item, like a diamond or a rare vase, is genuine. But not everything that has to be authenticated is worth a lot of money. For example, experts authenticate evidence in an investigation and you authenticate your identity to gain access to your email account.
Vocabulary lists containing authenticate
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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:
However, despite the years spent by Nouzille to authenticate the documents, the Senussi Files have failed to convince him that Libya was responsible.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Hence the trip to Vigo to see her paternal grandparents for the first time so she can authenticate her ancestry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Worse yet, these app-based ordering systems usually require a whole other login or download, forcing you to set up and authenticate an account that you’ll never use again after checkout.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
"In this study we show how to authenticate a biomarker, verifying that a signal truly comes from life rather than contamination or non-biological chemistry," Shawar adds.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 27, 2026
Geri explained that he needed the director of the Uffizi to authenticate the painting.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
One of those companies was Quest, the maker of OneLogin software that authenticates employees logging into their work platforms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
It said firms should reassess how their IT help desk "authenticates staff members" before resetting passwords, especially senior employees with access to high-level parts of an IT network.
From BBC ● May 5, 2025
Although a fantastically informative dive that also authenticates much of the movie’s narrative, I do question a serious expose about Oppenheimer using Bill Nye as a science authority source.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
But Banksy also goes to great lengths to regulate the resale of his graffiti and prevent fakes, working with a team that authenticates his work.
From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2022
How can he be sure that the truths he receives are established by evidence which, to all appearance, equally authenticates the falsehoods he rejects?
From Reason and Faith; Their Claims and Conflicts From The Edinburgh Review, October 1849, Volume 90, No. CLXXXII. (Pages 293-356) by Henry Rogers
If someone doesn’t have an authenticated IRS account already, getting started requires an account with ID.me, a business offering identity verification for government agencies, retailers and healthcare organizations.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
Around 15 of such hats have been fully authenticated, most of them now held in museum collections, said Parich.
From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026
The next day, the open-source research outfit Bellingcat said it had authenticated a video showing a Tomahawk missile strike next to the school in Minab.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2026
It's worth noting that militaries have access to "M-Code" GPS, is a carefully authenticated and encrypted form of the technology that is far more resistant to jamming.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2026
I kept my hunch a secret but had the manuscript authenticated by an expert.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
This technology could potentially be applied to authenticating wine, perfumes or other luxury goods, says Liu of Ainos, which trained its e-nose to differentiate varieties of coffee beans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
We did this by reviewing and authenticating thousands of leaked and gathered documents.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2025
Headed into the 2024 election, every American needs to up to the challenge of authenticating the news that they use to inform how they vote.
From Salon ● May 21, 2024
Rather than authenticating the tag, a better security solution is to authenticate the item itself, Han says.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 19, 2024
I am not surprised at your difficulty in authenticating matter-of-fact.
From Life of Charlotte Brontë — Volume 1 by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
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.
