Meaning & use
corroborate
Last updated
Meaning
verbtransitiveformal
To give further evidence that makes a claim, story or finding more believable.
Grammar: Takes an object: the footage corroborates his account.
Patterns
- corroborate something
- corroborate someone's story
Security video corroborated the witness's account of the break-in.
Several studies corroborate the idea that sleep helps memory.
Nobody could corroborate his claim that he was at home.
Word forms
| third person singular | corroborates |
|---|---|
| past tense | corroborated |
| past participle | corroborated |
| -ing form | corroborating |
Common combinations
- corroborate a story
- A neighbor corroborated her story.
- corroborate the evidence
- New data corroborate the earlier evidence.
- corroborate a claim
- The audit corroborated the claim.
- independently corroborate
- Reporters tried to independently corroborate the rumor.
- corroborating evidence
- Without corroborating evidence the court dismissed the case.
Synonyms and how they differ
- confirm
- Confirm is the everyday word and may mean simply saying that something is true, while corroborate means adding supporting evidence.
- verify
- Verify means checking that something is true, whereas corroborate means backing up a claim already made.
- substantiate
- Substantiate means proving a claim with evidence and is slightly stronger than corroborate.
- back up
- Back up is informal and can refer to any kind of support, while corroborate is formal and about evidence.
Opposites
Word family
- corroboration noun
- evidence that supports a claim
- corroborative adjective
- giving support or confirmation
- corroborator noun
- a person or thing that provides support
- uncorroborated adjective
- not supported by other evidence
Commonly confused: corroborate or collaborate? corroborate or corrode?
corroborate vs collaborate
Collaborate means to work together on something, while corroborate means to confirm with evidence.
corroborate vs corrode
Corrode means to wear away gradually, as rust does to metal.
Practice
A second witness gave an account that matched the first. The second witness _____ the first witness's story.
Choose one answer.
Corroborate means to support a story with further evidence. Contradicted is the opposite, and the other two words have different meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “corroborate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.