confirmation
Americannoun
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confirmations
plural
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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:
This new study is one more confirmation that when ancient human populations disappeared, they left traces of themselves behind.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
“Bonds could benefit from lower growth expectations, but a sustained rally requires confirmation from economic data and inflation trends, not just election headlines,” said Saxo’s Chanana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
She told MarketWatch in a phone interview Friday that she’d be watching whether the Nasdaq-100 remained below that support level this week as a potential confirmation of its breakdown.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
Reeves added that at the forthcoming UK-EU summit, she hoped for confirmation of the youth mobility scheme she has been pushing for since she was in office.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
ALBUS: But— AMOS: Your information was obvious but the confirmation is useful.
From "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by J.K. Rowling
If those confirmations arise, we will act on them.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Over his decadeslong career, he has played crucial roles in the confirmations of Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Similar confirmations were made with the two other men, with Sheriff Komorowski reminding them there was "no appeal" against their decision.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
Chair Jerome Powell, whose leadership tenure ends Friday, captured at least 80 votes in Senate confirmations for each of his two terms atop the Fed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Small though this effect is, it had been noticed before 1915 and served as one of the first confirmations of Einstein’s theory.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
