attest
verb
Simple meaning
Authenticate, affirm to be true, genuine.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhtehstSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈtɛst
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Authenticate, affirm to be true, genuine, or correct, as in an official capacity
transitive
To certify by signature or oath.
transitive
To certify in an official capacity.
transitive
To put under oath.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Authenticate, affirm to be true, genuine, or correct, as in an official capacity
Used this way, attest is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Official and authoritative
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use attest
- “His high fever attested to his illness.”verb
- “This word is not attested until 1993.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: authenticate or affirm to be true or genuine
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.