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certify

verb

Simple meaning

To attest that a product, service, organization, or person has met an official standard.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

surtuhfy

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɝtəfaɪ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To attest that a product, service, organization, or person has met an official standard.

  2. transitive

    To attest to (a fact) as the truth.

  3. transitivelaw

    To authenticate or verify in writing.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To attest that a product, service, organization, or person has met an official standard.

Used this way, certify 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.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

hereby certifyfurther certify

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • certifiedadjectiveInflected form

    Endorsed authoritatively as having met certain requirements.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • certified chequenounCompound term

    A check containing certification that the person who issued the check has sufficient funds on deposit to cover payment.

  • certified milknounCompound term

    Milk from dairies regulated by an authorized medical milk commission.

  • certified public accountantnounCompound term

    An accountant who has passed certain examinations and met all other statutory and licensing requirements of a United States state to be certified by that state.

  • certified checknounCompound term

    A check containing certification that the person who issued the check has sufficient funds on deposit to cover payment.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • certificationnounRelated term

    The act of certifying or bestowing a franchise on.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to attest that a product or service or organization

attest

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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.