English Explanatory Dictionary

affirm

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To agree, verify or concur; to answer positively.
  2. To assert positively; to tell with confidence; to aver; to maintain as true.
  3. To support or encourage.
  4. To make firm; to confirm, or ratify; especially (law) to assert or confirm, as a judgment, decree, or order, brought before an appellate court for review.
  5. To state under a solemn promise to tell the truth which is considered legally equivalent to an oath, especially of those who have religious or other moral objections to swearing oaths; also solemnly affirm.
intj
  1. Yes; true; correct.

Pronunciation

/əˈfɝm/ /əˈfɜːm/ en-us-affirm.ogg

Word forms

affirm affirms affirming affirmed

Etymology

From Middle English affermen, from Old French afermer, affermer, from Latin affirmare, adfirmare (“to present as fixed, aver, affirm”), from ad (“to”) + firmare (“to make firm”), from firmus (“firm”). By surface analysis, af- + firm.

Synonyms

validate protest

Antonyms

disaffirm deny repudiate invalidate

Related words

affirmation affirmative action confirm

Derived words

affirmability affirmable affirmance affirmer affirming the consequent gender-affirming life-affirming misaffirm open and affirming reaffirm unaffirmed
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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