affirm

Contents

English

Etymology

From Middle English affirmen, 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”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈfɝm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)m

Verb

affirm (third-person singular simple present affirms, present participle affirming, simple past and past participle affirmed)

1. To agree, verify or concur; to answer positively.

   She affirmed that she would go when I asked her.

2. To assert positively; to tell with confidence; to aver; to maintain as true.
   • Bible, Acts xxv. 19

     Jesus, […] whom Paul affirmed to be alive

3. To support or encourage.

   They did everything they could to affirm the children's self-confidence.

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.

Antonyms

• deny

Related terms

• affirmation
• affirmative

Translations

to agree with or verify

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 承认 (zh),肯定 (zh)

• Danish: bejae
• Finnish: vahvistaa (fi)
• Galician: afirmar (gl)
• German: zustimmen (de), bejahen (de), bestätigen (de)
• Greek: βεβαιώ (vevaió), επιβεβαιώνω (el) (epivevaióno)
• Interlingue: afirmar
• Japanese: 肯定する (ja) (こうていする, kōtei suru)

• Latin: dico (la)
• Lithuanian: teigti
• Maori: whakakoikoia, whakakoia, whakatūturu
• Polish: potwierdzać (pl) impf, potwierdzić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: afirmar (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian: potvrditi (sh)
• Spanish: afirmar (es)

to support or encourage

• Finnish: vahvistaa (fi), tukea (fi)
• German: unterstützen (de)
• Greek: στηρίζω (el) (stirízo)
• Latin: dico (la)

• Portuguese: afirmar (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian: poduprijeti (sh)
• Spanish: afirmar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} твърдя (bg) (tvǎrdja), ^{(please verify)} заявявам (bg) (zajavjavam)

• Manx: ^{(please verify)} shickyree

See also

• affirmative action
• confirm

Further reading

• affirm in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• affirm in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• affirm at OneLook Dictionary Search