different between speak vs affirm
speak
English
Alternative forms
- speake (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English speken (“to speak”), from Old English specan (“to speak”), alteration of earlier sprecan (“to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprekan, from Proto-Germanic *sprekan? (“to speak, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *spreg- (“to make a sound, utter, speak”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /spi?k/
- (General American) enPR: sp?k, IPA(key): /spik/
- Rhymes: -i?k
Verb
speak (third-person singular simple present speaks, present participle speaking, simple past spoke or (archaic) spake, past participle spoken or (colloquial, nonstandard) spoke)
- (intransitive) To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud.
- (intransitive, reciprocal) To have a conversation.
- (by extension) To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions.
- (intransitive) To deliver a message to a group; to deliver a speech.
- (transitive) To be able to communicate in a language.
- (by extension) To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
- (by extension) To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
- (transitive) To utter.
- (transitive) To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate.
- 1785, Frances Burney, Diary and letters of Madame d'Arblay, author of Evelina, Cecilia, &c., link:
- Their behaviour to each other speaks the most cordial confidence and happiness.
- 1785, Frances Burney, Diary and letters of Madame d'Arblay, author of Evelina, Cecilia, &c., link:
- (informal, transitive, sometimes humorous) To understand (as though it were a language).
- (intransitive) To produce a sound; to sound.
- Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce words or phrases from a human language.
- (transitive, archaic) To address; to accost; to speak to.
- [He will] thee in hope; he will speak thee fair.
- 1842, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Threnody in "Poems", published 1847, page 239
- Each village senior paused to scan / And speak the lovely caravan.
- 2013, George Francis Dow, Slave Ships and Slaving (quoting an older text)
- Spoke the ship Union of Newport, without any anchor. The next day ran down to Acra, where the windlass was again capsized and the pawls broken.
Usage notes
- Saying that one speaks a language often means that one can or knows how to speak it ("I speak Italian"); similarly, "I don't speak Italian" usually means that one cannot, rather than that one chooses not to.
Synonyms
- articulate, talk, verbalize
Antonyms
- be silent
Derived terms
Coordinate terms
- sign
Related terms
- speech
Translations
Noun
speak (countable and uncountable, plural speaks)
- language, jargon, or terminology used uniquely in a particular environment or group.
- Corporate speak; IT speak.
- Speech, conversation.
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
speak (plural speaks)
- (dated) a low class bar, a speakeasy.
Anagrams
- Akpes, Paeks, Pasek, Peaks, Spake, kapes, peaks, spake
Scots
Etymology
From Old English sprecan
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [sp?k]
- (North Northern Scots) IPA(key): [sp?k]
Verb
speak (third-person singular present speaks, present participle speakin, past spak, past participle spoken)
- to speak
Derived terms
speak From the web:
- what speakers fit my car
- what speaker wire to use
- what speakers work with alexa
- what speakers work with roku tv
- what speaks primordial 5e
- what speaks without a mouth
- what speaker wire is positive
- what speakers work with audio technica turntable
affirm
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)
- To agree, verify or concur; to answer positively.
- She affirmed that she would go when I asked her.
- To assert positively; to tell with confidence; to aver; to maintain as true.
- To support or encourage.
- They did everything they could to affirm the children's self-confidence.
- 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
affirm From the web:
- what affirmative action
- what affirmations
- what affirmation means
- what affirmations should i use
- what affirmed the legality of racial segregation
- what affirmations should i use for shifting
- what affirmative defenses must be pled
- what affirmative action means
you may also like
- speak vs affirm
- expectation vs foresight
- pungent vs red
- conclude vs effectuate
- pronounce vs exclaim
- narrate vs utter
- lubberly vs maladroit
- comely vs stunning
- contaminated vs defective
- pleasant vs comical
- sing vs squawk
- bizarre vs irregular
- puissant vs strapping
- grant vs disclose
- rupture vs atomize
- lower vs subjugate
- crisis vs squeeze
- withstand vs hinder
- fright vs dishearthen
- coherence vs communication