Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To cause (an institution, for example) to come into existence or begin operating; found; set up.
  • transitive verb To bring about; generate or effect.
  • transitive verb To place or settle in a secure position or condition.
  • transitive verb To cause to become regular or usual.
  • transitive verb To cause to be able to grow or thrive.
  • transitive verb To cause to be recognized and accepted.
  • transitive verb To introduce and put (a law, for example) into force.
  • transitive verb To prove the validity or truth of.
  • transitive verb To make a state institution of (a church).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In systematic biol., to give technical publication to; fix by publication in the nomenclatorial sense. See publication, 5.
  • To make stable, firm, or sure; appoint; ordain; settle or fix unalterably.
  • To put or fix on a firm basis; settle stably or fixedly; put in a settled or an efficient state or condition; inceptively, set up or found: as, his health is well established; an established reputation; to establish a person in business; to establish a colony or a university.
  • To confirm or strengthen; make more stable or determinate.
  • To confirm by affirmation or approval; sanction; uphold.
  • To make good; prove; substantiate; show to be valid or well grounded; cause to be recognized as valid or legal; cause to be accepted as true or as worthy of credence; as, to establish one's claim or one's case; to establish a marriage or a theory.
  • To fix or settle permanently, or as if permanently: with a reflexive pronoun.
  • To settle, as property.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make stable or firm; to fix immovably or firmly; to set (a thing) in a place and make it stable there; to settle; to confirm.
  • transitive verb To appoint or constitute for permanence, as officers, laws, regulations, etc.; to enact; to ordain.
  • transitive verb To originate and secure the permanent existence of; to found; to institute; to create and regulate; -- said of a colony, a state, or other institutions.
  • transitive verb To secure public recognition in favor of; to prove and cause to be accepted as true
  • transitive verb To set up in business; to place advantageously in a fixed condition; -- used reflexively

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To make stable or firm; to confirm.
  • verb transitive To form; to found; to institute; to set up in business.
  • verb transitive To appoint, as officers, laws, regulations, etc.; to enact; to ordain.
  • verb transitive To prove and cause to be accepted as true; to establish a fact; to demonstrate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb build or establish something abstract
  • verb place
  • verb institute, enact, or establish
  • verb establish the validity of something, as by an example, explanation or experiment
  • verb use as a basis for; found on
  • verb bring about
  • verb set up or lay the groundwork for
  • verb set up or found

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English establishen, from Old French establir, establiss-, from Latin stabilīre, from stabilis, firm; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English establissen, Old French establiss-, stem of some of the conjugated forms of establir, (Modern French établir), from Latin stabiliō, from stabilis ("firm, steady, stable").

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