confer
Americanverb (used without object)
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confers,
present (3rd person singular)
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conferred,
past participle, past
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conferring
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
confers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
conferred,
past participle, past
-
conferring
present participle
-
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
-
(tr) an obsolete word for compare
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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confermentnoun
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conferrernoun
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reconferverb
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preconferverb (used without object)
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conferrableadjective
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nonconferrableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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confersimple
-
conferssimple
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have conferredperfect
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has conferredperfect
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am conferringprogressive
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are conferringprogressive
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is conferringprogressive
-
have been conferringperfect progressive
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has been conferringperfect progressive
Past
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conferredsimple
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had conferredperfect
-
was conferringprogressive
-
were conferringprogressive
-
had been conferringperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
Different types of workouts also confer their own benefits when it comes to health and weight maintenance.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Then, through the cleaning and the preparation and then eventually the service — that’s on a clock because we’ve got other Louies to treat — we confer him his dignity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
That’s why older first-time parents should confer with their own parents to tackle the “who’s going to take care of you?” question.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
The consequence is to confer substantially greater discretion on the executive.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2026
Next he went about town to confer with other doctors.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
Our hypermasculine era has already championed testosterone as a buzzword—an elixir that confers virility, confidence and power.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Article 4, Section 3 of the Constitution confers on Congress the exclusive power to “dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the … property of the United States.”
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
At the heart of the case is the interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, which confers citizenship on anyone “born … in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
As the authors note, "The combination of advanced imaging techniques and machine learning confers methodological robustness and contributes significantly to the ongoing scientific discourse on post-viral syndromes."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2025
I certainly wasn’t seeking any degree, the way a college confers a status symbol upon its students.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
According to the NCES, U.S. colleges and universities conferred more than 950,000 master’s and doctorate degrees in education between 2016 and 2022.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
He and Flores sat quietly, wearing headphones for translation while their attorneys conferred with the judge.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
It’s clear they also wanted to maintain the impunity conferred by America’s superpower status.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
Douglass’s “Narrative” was his claim to the rights conferred, not upon a craftsman, but upon a human being.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
The doctors and nurses conferred in the corridor for a minute and decided they would put me under general anesthetic and remove the splints that way.
From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge
Downing Street published a list of the nominations, external and said the King "has been graciously pleased to signify his intention of conferring peerages".
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
U.S. and allied military planners, meanwhile, have spent months conferring on new blueprints for their combined force structures in Europe, under which the U.S. would reduce its nonnuclear deployments and Europeans would gradually fill gaps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
As the Bank of Southwark went public in Philadelphia, investors hired muscular goons to sign their names into the subscription books conferring the right to buy shares.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
"After conferring with the league office, because Lamar didn't take starter reps in practice, we updated our report to reflect his practice participation," the Ravens said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2025
Max could hear them conferring outside his bedroom door.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
