Before entering fully into the definition of the term to verify, we are going to discover its etymological origin. In this case, we can state that it is a word derived from Latin, which means “confirm” and that it is the result of the sum of the following components:
-The prefix “with”, which is synonymous with “together”.
-The verb “stare”, which is equivalent to “be standing”.
It is the action that consists of verifying or checking something. When a person seeks to verify a certain event, what he does is try to determine its veracity.
For example: “The police managed to verify that, when the murder occurred, the man was participating in a medical congress abroad”, “I still could not verify where the leak came from, but I suspect that there is a broken pipe in the kitchen ”, “ The woman promised to verify the neighbor’s sayings ”.
Let us suppose that the mayor of a town receives an anonymous report that warns about the mistreatment of people who are admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the municipality. In order to verify what was denounced, the communal chief decides to make a surprise visit to the place. There he discovers that patients have poor hygienic and physical conditions, he notices that there is a lot of dirt in all environments and he even finds a rat in a bathroom. These observations allow him to verify that the complaint he received was true and, therefore, he orders a series of changes in the hospital.
The owner of a company, on the other hand, may think that an employee is committing robberies in his workplace since various objects often disappear. To verify his suspicion, he installs security cameras that he hides in different parts of the company. After a few days, when observing the videos, he sees how a worker hides a modem, a telephone, a ream and dozens of pens in his bag: the businessman thus manages to verify what was happening.
In the same way, another clear example of the use of the verb to verify that concerns us may be that a teacher has the suspicion that one of his students has copied from another’s exam. In order to verify that this is the case, you will have to carry out not only a dialogue with both of them, but also pay close attention to the exams to be able to see the coincidences. In this way, you can clear up your doubts.
In the field of sport, it can happen that there is a suspicion that a specific athlete is resorting to doping in order to achieve the goals that have been set. The way to be able to verify that this is the case is by submitting the person to the pertinent medical tests that will determine with their results if they are actually consuming prohibited or not permitted substances within that sector.
Among the main synonyms of the word verify we find verbs such as verify, verify, prove or even confirm. With regard to its antonyms, some stand out such as inadvertent, differ or disagree.