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:
Reports had emerged over the summer of plans for a park dedicated to the iconic Japanese franchise in the Val-d'Oise region, though no official confirmation was given.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
And during Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s 2017 confirmation hearings, some media outlets claimed that President Donald Trump’s nominee had plagiarized parts of his 2006 book about assisted suicide.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
It was awaiting confirmation of the grazing rights before deciding how many horses would be allowed to remain on the common.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
During his confirmation process last year, Bisignano said he would bring his expertise to the agency to reduce payment mistakes and improve its older technological infrastructure.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
And now there was confirmation from Jack Tallis of his continuing support.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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
These confirmations need to be completed in a timely fashion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 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
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
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.
