Confirm vs Enforce - What's the difference?
confirm | enforce |
To strengthen; to make firm or resolute.
(Christianity) To administer the sacrament of confirmation on (someone).
* 1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society 2012, p. 35:
To assure the accuracy of previous statements.
(obsolete) To strengthen (a castle, town etc.) with extra troops, fortifications etc.
(obsolete) To intensify, make stronger, add force to.
(obsolete, reflexive) To exert oneself, to try hard.
*, Bk.VII:
*:I pray you enforce youreselff at that justis that ye may be beste, for my love.
To give strength or force to; to affirm, to emphasize.
:The victim was able to enforce his evidence against the alleged perpetrator.
(archaic) To compel, oblige (someone or something); to force.
*, I.2.4.iv:
*:Uladislaus the Second, King of Poland, and Peter Dunnius, Earl of Shrinehad been hunting late, and were enforced to lodge in a poor cottage.
*1899 , E. OE. Somerville and Martin Ross, Some Experiences of an Irish R.M.'', Great Uncle McCarthy :
*:In a few minutes I was stealthily groping my way down my own staircase, with a box of matches in my hand, enforced by scientific curiosity, but none the less armed with a stick.
To keep up, impose or bring into effect something, not necessarily by force.
:The police are there to enforce the law.
(obsolete) To make or gain by force; to force.
:to enforce a passage
*Spenser
*:enforcing furious way
(obsolete) To put in motion or action by violence; to drive.
*Shakespeare
*:As swift as stones / Enforced from the old Assyrian slings.
(obsolete) To give force to; to strengthen; to invigorate; to urge with energy.
:to enforce arguments or requests
*Burke
*:enforcing sentiment of the thrust humanity
(obsolete) To urge; to ply hard; to lay much stress upon.
*Shakespeare
*:Enforce him with his envy to the people.
To prove; to evince.
:(Hooker)
As verbs the difference between confirm and enforce
is that confirm is to strengthen; to make firm or resolute while enforce is (obsolete|transitive) to strengthen (a castle, town etc) with extra troops, fortifications etc.confirm
English
Alternative forms
* confirme (obsolete)Verb
(en verb)- Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII, was baptized and confirmed at the age of three days.