authenticate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to establish as genuine.
- Synonyms:
- substantiate, validate, confirm
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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
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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:
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
The stores could become locations to collect and authenticate items from eBay sellers, for example, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 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
AFP was not immediately able to authenticate these soundbites.
From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026
Geri explained that he needed the director of the Uffizi to authenticate the painting.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Paul’s card was graded 10 by Professional Sports Authenticators, or PSA, a third-party service that authenticates and grades trading cards and other collectibles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026
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
If no document authenticates it, at all events it is not contradicted by any, and appears to us to be highly probable.
From Lectures on the true, the beautiful and the good by Cousin, Victor
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
"If fans are purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster, they can be confident that they're getting a real, authenticated ticket that will get them into tonight's game," a Ticketmaster spokesperson told the BBC on Saturday.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
The newly authenticated hat will serve as the centrepiece of an exhibition devoted to the art collections of Napoleon's sister, opening in early June.
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
I kept my hunch a secret but had the manuscript authenticated by an expert.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Many people have become accustomed to using their phones at checkout, authenticating themselves with a fingerprint or their face.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
The sixth, S Pheonix Events, which also notes the receipt of an application to strike off, lists Sarah Ferguson as the person authenticating the application on behalf of the company.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
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
If this be true, certainly some rule is necessary for arranging and authenticating these various expressions and results of Christian doctrine.
From An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine by Newman, John Henry Cardinal
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.
