validation
val-ih-DAY-shuhn
/ˌvælɪˈdeɪʃən/
The act of recognizing, affirming, or establishing the worth, legitimacy, or truth of a person's feelings, ideas, or work.
In psychological contexts, it means acknowledging someone's feelings as understandable and worthwhile, even if you don't fully agree with their conclusion.
The story behind the word. Rooted in Latin 'valere' (to be strong or worth something), which also gave us 'value' and 'valiant'. Validation originally meant giving legal strength or official binding power to a legal deed before entering psychological parlance.
Word relationships
- affirmation: Focuses on positive reinforcement and emotional encouragement.
- confirmation: Proves facts or correctness through objective verification.
- invalidation: Dismissal or denial of the truth or legitimacy of feelings or facts.
- rejection: Refusal to accept or grant validity to a person or idea.
Commonly confused with
- valuation: Valuation is determining the financial price or monetary worth of property; validation is confirming emotional or factual legitimacy.
Word family
- validate (verb): To declare or make legally or emotionally valid.
- valid (adjective): Sound, cogent, or legally binding.
- validity (noun): The quality of being logically or factually sound.
Collocations
- seek validation
- emotional validation
- external validation
- provide validation
Idioms & expressions
- stamp of approval
Example sentences
- "Providing emotional validation helps anxious patients feel heard and calms their autonomic nervous system." Psychotherapy
- "Customer feedback provided critical validation that our new interface solved a real market need." Product design
Memory hook
VALIDATION makes someone's feelings feel STRONG (valid) and real. VALID-ation = making feelings VALID.
When not to use
Do not confuse with blind agreement or flattery; validation accepts emotional reality without approving bad behavior.
Fun facts
- In Marsha Linehan's Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), validation is considered the primary active ingredient for reducing extreme emotional distress.
Related words
Explore more words
validate, affirm, verify, acknowledge, justification, verification
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