corroboration

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #11,812 of 15,258neutral

Corroboration is independent confirmation that something is true. Seek corroboration, without corroboration, corroboration of the account.

The independence is the whole point: a second witness who heard it from the first is not corroboration. Scots law long required it in criminal cases, which is unusual among legal systems.

Definitions of corroboration

1nouncorroborationIndependent confirmation that something is true.C1
“The police needed corroboration of her story before they could make an arrest.”

corroboration is a confirmation.

Where it comes from

Latin corroboratio means a strengthening, from com- plus robur, strength or oak.

Latin
corrōborātiō — strengthening
Middle English
corroboracioun
English, today
corroboration

From Middle English corroboracioun, borrowed from Latin corrōborātiō (“strengthening”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

corroboration in the wild

Corroborating evidence, also referred to as corroboration, is a type of evidence in lawful command.
Corroborating evidence
The map provides visual corroboration of those textual records and forms part of a scroll that includes a series of illustrations found among the Dunhuang manuscripts.
Dunhuang Star Chart
Scots law is one of the few legal systems that require corroboration.
Scottish criminal law
At times those fleeced are shown faked closed-circuit television footage as corroboration.
Thai zig zag scam
Later editions of the book contain 71 pages of back matter largely detailing independent corroboration of Sheeran's confessions that came to light after the book was first published.
I Heard You Paint Houses

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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