different between inform vs affirm

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?f??m/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?f??m/
• Rhymes: -??(?)m

Etymology 1

From Middle English informen, enformen, borrowed from Old French enformer, informer (“to train, instruct, inform”), from Latin ?nf?rm? (“to shape, form, train, instruct, educate”), from in- (“into”) + f?rma (“form, shape”), equivalent to in- +? form.

Alternative forms

• enform (obsolete)

Verb

inform (third-person singular simple present informs, present participle informing, simple past and past participle informed)

1. (archaic, transitive) To instruct, train (usually in matters of knowledge).
2. (transitive) To communicate knowledge to.

   • For he would learn their business secretly, / And then inform his master hastily.
3. (intransitive) To impart information or knowledge.
4. To act as an informer; denounce.
5. (transitive) To give form or character to; to inspire (with a given quality); to affect, influence (with a pervading principle, idea etc.).
6. (obsolete, intransitive) To make known, wisely and/or knowledgeably.
7. (obsolete, transitive) To direct, guide.
8. (archaic, intransitive) To take form; to become visible or manifest; to appear.

Synonyms

• (communicate knowledge to (trans.)): acquaint, apprise, notify; See also Thesaurus:inform
• (act as informer): dob, name names, peach, snitch; See also Thesaurus:rat out
• (take form): materialize, take shape; See also Thesaurus:come into being

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Latin ?nf?rmis

Adjective

inform (not comparable)

1. Without regular form; shapeless; ugly; deformed.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cotton to this entry?) "Bleak Crags, and naked Hills, And the whole Prospect so inform and rude." (C. Cotton, Wonders of Peake in Poetical Works (1765) 342)

Anagrams

• -formin, F minor, Morfin, formin

Romanian

Etymology

From French informe, from Latin informis.

Adjective

inform m or n (feminine singular inform?, masculine plural informi, feminine and neuter plural informe)

1. deformed

Declension

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