Other forms: corroborated, corroborating, corroborates
To corroborate something is to back it up with separate evidence. A witness says the car was blue; the camera on the corner shows a blue car; the footage corroborates the witness.
The word lives in courtrooms, laboratories and news desks. Evidence corroborates a claim, a statement, an account, a theory — and it has to come from somewhere else, which is why corroborate carries a strong sense of independent. You do not corroborate a person, you corroborate what that person said. The noun is corroboration and the adjective is corroborating: corroborating evidence. It is a formal word, and in ordinary talk you would say back up or confirm.
1verbcorroborateTo support a statement or a finding with evidence from another, independent source.
“Her neighbour corroborated the account she gave the police.”
synonyms: confirm, substantiate
Corroborate arrived in the 1530s from Latin corrōborātus, 'strengthened' — con-, 'together', on rōborō, 'to strengthen', from rōbur, 'strength'. To corroborate is to add strength to something that was standing there on its own.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₁rewdʰ-
Latin
corrōborātus — strengthened
English, today
corroborate
Built from
1530s; Latin corrōborātus (“strengthened”), perfect passive participle of corrōborō (“to support, corroborate”) (see -ate and -ate), from con- (“together”) + rōborō (“to strengthen”), from rōbur (“strength”). Regular participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English, otherwise archaic.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA