confirm

Etymology

From Middle English confirmen, confermen, from Old French confermer, from Latin cōnfirmāre (“to make firm, strengthen, establish”), from con- (“together”) + firmāre (“to make firm”), from firmus (“firm”).

verb

1. To strengthen; to make firm or resolute.
2. (transitive, Christianity) To administer the sacrament of confirmation on (someone).
   She pulled through with the boy till he was confirmed; but then she told him that she could not feed him any longer; he would have to go out and earn his own bread. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 215
   Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII, was baptized and confirmed at the age of three days. 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 35
3. To assure the accuracy of previous statements.
   Despite all the evidence confirming the existence of the Protheans, little is known about their culture and society. From time to time, dig sites will yield new clues, but after 50,000 years of decay, little of value is unearthed. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Protheans: Data Discs Codex entry
   The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were. 18 March 2019, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution, The Center for International Security and Cooperation
   Transport Minister Marples, meanwhile, used arrogant rhetoric and showed his personal contempt for railways when confirming in Parliament that a third of the network was to be closed even before the survey results were known. March 8 2023, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 53