Before entering fully into the definition of the term confirm, let's discover its etymological origin. In this case, we can state that it is a word that derives from Latin, which means "confirm" and that it is the result of the sum of the following components:
-The prefix “con-”, which is synonymous with “together”.
-The verb “stare”, which is equivalent to “being stopped”.
It is the action that consists of verifying or checking something . When a person seeks to verify a certain event, what they do is try to determine its veracity.
For example: “The police were able to verify that, when the murder occurred, the man was participating in a medical conference abroad,” “I still couldn't verify where the leak came from, but I suspect that there is a broken pipe in the kitchen” , “The woman promised to verify the neighbor's statements” .
Suppose that the mayor of a town receives an anonymous complaint warning about the mistreatment of people who are admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the municipality. In order to verify what was reported, the community leader decides to make a surprise visit to the place. There he discovers that the patients have poor hygienic and physical conditions, he notices that there is a lot of dirt in all the rooms and he even finds a rat in a bathroom. These observations allow him to verify that the complaint he received was true and, therefore, he orders a series of changes in the hospital.
The owner of a company , on the other hand, may think that an employee is committing thefts in his or her workplace since various objects often disappear. To verify his suspicion , he installs security cameras that he hides in different places in the company. After a few days, watching the videos, he sees how a worker hides a modem, a telephone, a ream and dozens of pens in his bag: the businessman thus manages to verify what was happening.
In the same way, another clear example of the use of the verb confirm that concerns us may be that a teacher suspects that one of his students has copied from another's exam. In order to verify that this is the case, you will have to not only carry out a dialogue with both but also look closely at the exams to be able to see the coincidences. This way, you can clear up any doubts.
In the field of sport, it may happen that there is a suspicion that a specific athlete is resorting to doping in order to achieve the goals they have set. The way to verify that this is the case is by subjecting the person to the relevant medical tests that will determine with their results whether he or she is actually consuming substances that are prohibited or not permitted within that sector.
Among the main synonyms of the word confirm we find verbs such as verify, verify, demonstrate or even confirm. Regarding its antonyms, some stand out such as inadvertently, differ or disagree.