What does corroborated mean?
Corroborated is the past tense of the verb corroborate, meaning confirmed or supported by additional, independent evidence. When one witness's statement, a laboratory result, or a historical document is said to have been corroborated, it means other reliable sources agree with it, making the claim substantially more credible. The word carries a formal register and appears most often in law, journalism, science, and academic writing, where establishing the reliability of claims matters greatly. Its etymology reinforces this sense of strength: it derives from the Latin 'corroborare', built on 'robur' — the word for oak wood and for strength itself. In practice, corroboration is considered a cornerstone of sound investigation: a single unverified assertion may be dismissed, but a claim corroborated by multiple independent sources is far harder to dispute. Related forms include the noun corroboration and the adjective corroborative.
verbPast tense of corroborate: to confirm or support a statement, theory, or finding with additional evidence or testimony.
- (of evidence, testimony, or a source) to confirm or support a statement, claim, or finding by providing additional independent evidence
- (formal) to strengthen or make more certain a belief, account, or conclusion through agreement with other information
"The witness's account was corroborated by security footage from the night of the incident."
"The scientist's results were corroborated by two independent laboratories before publication."
"Police sought phone records that would corroborate the suspect's alibi."
'Corroborate' comes from the Latin 'robur', meaning oak — so when detectives say evidence was corroborated, they're literally saying it was made strong as an oak tree.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of corroborated
Corroborated derives from the Latin 'corroborare', formed from 'cor-' (an intensive prefix) plus 'roborare', meaning to strengthen, from 'robur' — oak wood, and figuratively strength or hardness. The verb entered English in the early modern period, around the late 15th to 16th century, carrying the sense of physically strengthening before settling into its modern sense of confirming a claim with evidence. It shares its root with 'robust', which likewise descends from 'robur'.
Related word forms
How corroborated is actually used
Formal register, used chiefly in journalism, law, science, and academic writing. Typically applied to evidence or sources rather than to people themselves — one says 'the alibi was corroborated', not usually 'he was corroborated'.
Easily confused with corroborated
To collaborate is to work jointly with others on a project, whereas to corroborate is to confirm a claim with supporting evidence.
To correlate is to show a mutual relationship between two things, whereas to corroborate is to independently confirm that something is true.