confercon‧fer /kənˈfɜː $ -ˈfɜːr/ ●○○ AWL verb (past tense and past participle conferred, present participle conferring) formal 
Word Origin Examples
Franklin leant over and conferred with his attorneys.2confer a title/degree/honour etc to officially give someone a title etc, especially as a reward for something they have achieved SYN bestowconfer on/upon An honorary degree was conferred on him by the University.► see thesaurus at give—conferment noun [countable, uncountable]
Word OriginWORD ORIGINconfer
Verb TableOrigin:
1400-1500 Latin conferre ‘to bring together’, from com- ( ➔ COM-) + ferre ‘to carry’VERB TABLE
confer
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | confer |
| he, she, it | confers | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | conferred |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have conferred |
| he, she, it | has conferred | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had conferred |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will confer |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have conferred |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am conferring |
| he, she, it | is conferring | |
| you, we, they | are conferring | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was conferring |
| you, we, they | were conferring | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been conferring |
| he, she, it | has been conferring | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been conferring |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be conferring |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been conferring |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- The President trusted him so much that he conferred on him the role of "Principal Advisor".
- The university has already conferred honorary degrees on several prime ministers.
- Bethel indicated that all institutions conducting courses at degree level in all countries except the United Kingdom conferred their own awards.
- He conferred privately with key congressional leaders and together they started the Manhattan Project.
- In other words, multimedia must confer real benefits.
- It gave Becton the title of chief executive officer and conferred extraordinary powers upon him.
- Some specific functions can only be conferred by an order made by the Lord Chancellor.
- The effect of this order was to confer second-class citizenship on the proud Washington.
- With the first mover advantage conferred by this partnership, we expect to take the lion's share of that new business.
THESAURUS► give
Collocations to let someone have something, without expecting to be paid for it: · He was always giving me gifts.· They gave a free drink to all their customers.
► donate to give money to an organization that helps people or protects something, or to give your blood or part of your body to save someone’s life: · The company donates 1 per cent of its profits to charity.· 70% of people wanted to donate their organs after death.
► award to officially give money or a prize to someone: · She was awarded a million dollars in damages.· Hollywood awarded him an Oscar for his performance.
► present to formally or officially give something to someone by putting it in their hands, especially at a formal ceremony: · They presented her with a bouquet of flowers.
► leave (also bequeath formal) to officially arrange for someone to have something that you own after your death: · He left most of his property to his wife.
► lavish somebody with something/lavish something on somebody formal to give someone a lot of something, especially praise, attention, or gifts: · After his team won, the press lavished him with praise.
► confer formal to give someone an honour, a university degree, or the right or power to do something: · the powers conferred on him by Parliament· the highest honor that her country could confer on her
► bestow formal to give someone something to show how much they are respected, for example an honour, a title, or a gift – a very formal use: · He was also bestowed the title of ‘Cultural Ambassador of Grenada’.
Longman Language Activatorto officially give something to someone► award to officially give someone something such as a prize, money etc, especially as a reward for their hard work or for something they have done: award somebody something: · She was awarded the Nobel Prize for her work in medical research.· The management have awarded all factory employees a 5% pay increase. award somebody compensation/damages etc: · A woman who suffered brain damage during an operation has been awarded $300,000 in compensation.
► present to give someone something at an official ceremony: present a prize/medal/trophy/certificate/award etc: · Who's going to present the prizes this year?· The trophy will be presented by last year's winner, Brett Butler. present something to somebody: · A little girl presented a basket of flowers to the President's wife.present somebody with something: · Last night Phil Donahue was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
► grant to formally or officially give someone something that they have asked for, especially permission to do something: · The company's application to build a billion dollar leisure complex has been granted by city hall.grant somebody something: · The authorities have refused to grant him a visa to visit the US.grant somebody's request: · I am pleased to inform you that your request for housing benefit has been granted.
► confer formal: confer a degree/honour/title etc to officially give someone a degree, honour etc especially as a reward for something they have achieved: confer something on somebody: · The university has already conferred honorary degrees on several prime ministers.confer on somebody something: · The President trusted him so much that he conferred on him the role of "Principal Advisor".
► allocate if someone in authority allocates something such as money, a house, a job etc to someone, they decide to give that person some of the money, or one of the houses, jobs etc that are available: allocate something to somebody: · The company has allocated $1000 to the team to get the project started.allocate somebody something: · Several single parent families have been allocated homes on the new site.
► allotted: allotted money/time/space etc the money, time etc that has been officially given or allowed to someone in order for them to do something: · This department has already spent all its allotted budget.· David wasn't able to finish the task within the allotted time.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► also
Phrases· All Henley postgraduate students are registered at Brunel University which also confers the degree.· The Schedule also confers a right of appeal on an unsuccessful applicant or objector to the sheriff.· Such arrangements also confer the power to veto airport development, and hence, often, to keep out competitors' flights.· You have much greater freedom of choice how you spend your time -but that freedom also confers greater responsibility on you.
► on· Your popularity might be tarnished, but now you have conferred on your people the gift of a nation in the making.· The Constitution confers on the President the whole executive power.· Their finding suggests that pregnancy may confer on some women a protective factor making them less likely to act on suicidal urges.
► upon· Stewart was in the partnership strictly at his invitation, and that conferred upon Stewart a junior status.
NOUN► act· Section 19 of that Act, in particular, confers general powers of seizure.
► advantage· The natural projection of the land along the Thames conferred distinct advantages on West Ham as a site for the new docks.· In this sense, a small private company may confer no great advantage over the personal liability of a partner.· Though many genetic fluctuations do occur, most die out because they fail to confer any survival advantages on gut-dwelling microbes.· An exception arises only where there are concomitant changes that confer an advantage on the rarer types.
► authority· Such laws frequently confer considerable discretionary authority on public administrators.· In committing the count's rights to written record, Henry's clerks had conferred on them new authority.
► benefit· It is difficult to avoid concluding that, where they do persist, transposable elements must be conferring some benefit.· So it would not be surprising if it conferred its benefits on the heart by altering several things at once.· It is not an argument over which of the two screening strategies will confer the greater medical benefit.· Adtranz argues that California law allows the reimbursement if the action conferred a significant benefit to the public.· In conclusion oesophageal transection and gastric devascularisation appears to confer no benefit over endoscopic sclerotherapy in terms of long term survival after variceal haemorrhage.· In other words, multimedia must confer real benefits.· That is, it is infrastructural and confers a public benefit, from which enterprises in general will gain.· Anchoresses were believed to confer great spiritual benefits on a neighbourhood and all big towns liked to have one.
► degree· Therefore, this region may confer some degree of specialization to the protein, in terms of cellular location and/or tissue specificity.· All Henley postgraduate students are registered at Brunel University which also confers the degree.
► government· The policy of the United Kingdom is now not to confer recognition on governments as opposed to on states.· It does not deny the truth of the assertion that Parliament could, if it wished, confer such powers upon government.
► honour· Poets confer honour neither on themselves nor on their work by using a sophisticated diction.
► legitimacy· People who run countries have all too often fallen for the notion that sporting success somehow confers political legitimacy.
► power· Indeed, one of the justifications of private property takes as its premise the idea that property ownership confers power.· It gave Becton the title of chief executive officer and conferred extraordinary powers upon him.· It can confer certain powers and responsibilities upon regional and local authorities, and it can also remove those powers.· It seems to confer a strange power on the practitioner.· Numerical strength does not necessarily confer power, but in Whitehall it has always counted towards influence.· Secrecy confers power on those who know the secret while those who do not are at a disadvantage.· Such arrangements also confer the power to veto airport development, and hence, often, to keep out competitors' flights.· That contract confers power on the directors of the company to manage the company.
► right· The overall aim is to confer the right on professionals to have their qualifications recognised in all member states.· A person's power to confer rights on others by his consent does, however, expose him to blackmail and abuse.· Hence, regulations confer individual rights and duties which must be respected by the courts of the member states.· Industrial safety legislation will normally confer a right on persons employed.· The Schedule also confers a right of appeal on an unsuccessful applicant or objector to the sheriff.· Private ownership of parts of the system confers only strictly limited rights and powers of control over operation and revenue.· However, such an arrangement confers no rights to exploit minerals if found.
► status· To confer the status of value upon excess and extremism is to bring these things back within the pale of decency.· Carrying a pager once conferred status.· Others are purchased because the buyer feels that ownership will confer separateness and status.· The court concluded that it would be inconsistent with these purposes for it to confer tenure status on a teacher.· Oldfield was never conferred with boffin status, unlike his contemporary, Mr Ambient himself, Brian Eno.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► confer a title/degree/honour etc
Word family- Poets confer honour neither on themselves nor on their work by using a sophisticated diction.
WORD FAMILYnounconferenceverbconfer
1[intransitive] to discuss something with other people, so that everyone can express their opinions and decide on somethingconfer with Franklin leant over and conferred with his attorneys.2confer a title/degree/honour etc to officially give someone a title etc, especially as a reward for something they have achieved SYN bestowconfer on/upon An honorary degree was conferred on him by the University.► see thesaurus at give—conferment noun [countable, uncountable]