These words are alike in suggesting favourable judgement or support given someone or something. Endorse means literally to write on the back of: to endorse a cheque. In its figurative sense, endorse means to give approval and support to.

• At its last meeting, Council endorsed changes intended to modernize the building code; a TV commercial in which a well-known sportsman endorses a hair cream; to endorse a political candidate.

To accredit is to furnish someone with credentials or to invest with authority. Accredit suggests either formal acceptance of or the meeting of official standards: to accredit an ambassador; a school accredited by the Department of Education.

Approve is the most general term in this group of words, and may indicate anything from mild acquiescence to enthusiastic support; moreover, it may refer to official endorsement or to a wholly personal reaction: to approve a subordinate’s expense account; to approve one’s daughter’s marriage.

• The board approved unanimously the appointment of a public-relations officer; He had no choice but to approve the application for membership.

Confirm , sanction and ratify share with endorse the meaning of making legal or effective by approving. To sanction , the strongest of these terms, is to approve authoritatively or to make valid. Like endorse , it couples support with approval: a church that refused to sanction racial discrimination; Public opinion sanctioned a more liberal view on divorce. Ratify always suggests formal approval in an official and authoritative setting.

• Australia ratified the Treaty of Peace with Japan on 10th April, 1952; New Zealand on 29th April, 1952.

Confirm is not as strong as either ratify or sanction , though it is sometimes used interchangeably with ratify . To confirm is to make valid or binding by approval or acceptance: Council was asked to confirm the engineer’s estimates for the coming year. A government arbitrator who confirmed an agreement reached between labour and management.

O.K. is an informal term that often implies a written expression of approval, as a signature or initials: The editor O.K.‘d the manuscript for publication; a bank official who O.K.’d a shipment of gold bars.