different between assent vs affirm

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??s?nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt
• Homophone: ascent

Etymology

From Middle English assent (noun) and assenten (verb), from Old French assent (noun) and assentir (verb).

Verb

assent (third-person singular simple present assents, present participle assenting, simple past and past participle assented)

1. (intransitive) To agree; to give approval.
   • 2012, Spectral Mortuary, Lapidated

     To assent to the words
     Of medieval law
     To pay a corporal price
     To death, by lapidation

2. (intransitive) To admit a thing as true.

   • And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so.

Synonyms

• (give approval): consent; See also Thesaurus:assent
• (admit a thing as true): affirm, allow, astipulate, aver, soothe, stipulate

Related terms

Translations

Noun

assent (countable and uncountable, plural assents)

1. agreement; act of agreeing

   I will give this act my assent.

Synonyms

• approval, consent, sanction; See also Thesaurus:approval

Related terms

• assentor

Translations

Anagrams

• antses, sanest, snaste, stanes, steans

Latin

Verb

assent

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of ass?

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): /??f?m/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??f??m/
• Rhymes: -??(?)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.
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.

Synonyms

• validate

Antonyms

• disaffirm
• deny (of 1,2)
• repudiate (of 2)
• invalidate (of 4)

Related terms

• affirmation
• affirmative

Translations

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