Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To bestow (an honor, for example).
  • intransitive verb To invest with (a characteristic, for example).
  • intransitive verb To meet in order to deliberate together or compare views; consult.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bring together.
  • To compare; examine by comparison; collate.
  • [In this sense now obsolete except as used in the imperative in making reference to illustrative words or passages, in which use it coincides with, and is usually treated as, the Latin imperative confer (pron. kon′ fėr), and commonly abbreviated conf. or cf.]
  • To bestow as a permanent gift; settle as a possession: followed by on or upon.
  • To contribute; conduce.
  • Synonyms Bestow; Grant, etc. See give.
  • To consult together on some special subject; compare opinions; carry on a discussion or deliberation.

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

  • transitive verb obsolete To bring together for comparison; to compare.
  • transitive verb To grant as a possession; to bestow.
  • transitive verb obsolete To contribute; to conduce.
  • intransitive verb To have discourse; to consult; to compare views; to deliberate.

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

  • verb present
  • verb have a conference in order to talk something over

Etymologies

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

[Latin cōnferre : com-, com- + ferre, to bring; see bher- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin conferō.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word confer.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • WIZARD

    Therefore, by virtue of the authority

    vested in me by the Universitatus

    Committeeatum e plurbis unum, I hereby

    confer upon you the honorary degree of Th.D.

    June 9, 2010

  • -to compare

    cf.

    October 19, 2010

  • Why didn't you confer with him before making such a rash decision?

    February 13, 2012