confirmation
Americannoun
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an act or instance of confirming, or of establishing someone or something, as by verifying, approving, or corroborating.
The study is an attempt at the scientific confirmation of previous anecdotal results.
The nomination and confirmation of this candidate as Court of Appeals Judge is a step in the right direction.
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Religion.
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a rite in some Christian churches, in which baptized individuals profess their faith, are accorded status as full members, and, in some denominations, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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a solemn ceremony among Reform and certain Conservative Jews, admitting young people to adult membership in the Jewish community after completion of a prescribed course of study.
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something that confirms, as a corroborative statement or piece of evidence.
His birth certificate served as confirmation of his citizenship.
noun
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the act of confirming
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something that confirms; verification
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a rite in several Christian churches that confirms a baptized person in his or her faith and admits him or her to full participation in the church
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(in the philosophy of science) the relationship between an observation and the theory which it supposedly renders more probable Compare hypothetico-deductive
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonconfirmationnoun
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preconfirmationnoun
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reconfirmationnoun
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self-confirmationnoun
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superconfirmationnoun
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confirmationaladjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of confirmation
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old French and Latin confirmātiōn-, stem of confirmātiō; see confirm, -ation
Explanation
A confirmation provides proof that something is true. An example might be when you receive confirmation that your flight will be on time, or you find out that something you thought might have happened actually did occur. Confirmation is verification or final proof of something. In the church, confirmation is a rite in which a person if awarded full acceptance into — i.e., confirmed in — the religion, usually presented in a ceremony attended by family and friends. You can see how that ties in with the more general definition of substantiation of a fact or assertion. Confirmation is an obvious derivative of the verb confirm.
Vocabulary lists containing confirmation
Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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The Poet X
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Analyzing Arguments: From Reading to Writing (Chapter 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:
There was also no confirmation from the US of any targeting of its facilities or personnel.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Justice Jackson had also avoided the question in her 2022 confirmation hearings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
These Games were also hurt by the late confirmation of its dates and schedule, which only came in October last year.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Nearly two months later, she said in a phone interview, she is still waiting for confirmation of his death from Mexican authorities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Not quite a confirmation, but an invitation to join my journey on the road to acceptance.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"As soon as I get further confirmations of that, we're ready to re-initiate the process of evacuation," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
Musical daydreams, Ms. Margulis writes, are “among the most profound confirmations that radical interconnectedness lies at the heart of human cognition.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
One of its earliest confirmations came from Mercury's orbit, which shifts slightly more than Newton's laws alone could explain.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 19, 2026
The Fed’s board can vote to install an interim chair to lead the Fed and has done so when confirmations have lagged.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
The fact that Einstein’s predictions matched what was seen, while Newton’s did not, was one of the crucial confirmations of the new theory.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
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.
