# confer

Pronunciation: say "kuhn-FUR" US /kənˈfʌɹ/, UK/AUS /kənˈfɜː/

## Verb

1. To grant or bestow something on a person, such as a right, honor, or title.
   - Simple: To give someone an honor, right, or power.
   - _The board voted to confer emeritus status on the retiring professor._
   - _The monarch conferred a knighthood on the celebrated scientist._
2. To talk things over with one or more people; to consult or discuss together.
   - Simple: To talk with others to share ideas or make a decision.
   - _The lawyers asked to confer privately before the hearing resumed._
   - _Members of the jury conferred for several hours before reaching a verdict._

## Verb

3. To examine things together in order to compare them. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To compare two or more things to see how they are alike or different.
   - _He bade his clerk confer the two manuscripts for discrepancies._
   - _The editors conferred the early printings against the author's notes._
4. To bring things together; to collect or gather into one group. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To bring things together into one place and gather them.
5. To contribute to or help produce a particular result. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To help bring about a result by adding to it.

## Origin

This word came into Early Modern English from Middle French "conférer," which goes back through Old French to the Latin "cōnferō." It is a doublet of "collate."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/confer (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).