authentication

noun

au·​then·​ti·​ca·​tion ə-ˌthen-ti-ˈkā-shən 

ȯ-

plural authentications

: an act, process, or method of showing something (such as an identity, a piece of art, or a financial transaction) to be real, true, or genuine : the act or process of authenticating something

Historically, the authentication of art fell to connoisseurs …

—Colette Bancroft

Encryption and decryption, combined with user authentication, ensure that only intended recipients read the messages.

—Sal Ricciardi

Mostly, notaries have to be adept at the authentication arts. In an era of multiple-personality disorder, cross-dressing, sex-change surgery and bogus IDs, people aren't always who they appear to be. On the notary public rests the responsibility to verify a person's true identity and attest to it.

—Colette Bancroft

Giving users a way to prove that they're being harassed with, say, a screenshot or some other form of authentication could help Twitter catch bad actors, even after they've covered their tracks.

—Issie Lapowsky

—often used before another noun

authentication codes

authentication techniques

authentication keys

Examples of authentication in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

When importing passwords, Safari will require your authentication (biometrics or password) to add the information to your Keychain. —Sandra Gutierrez G., Popular Science, 13 Sep. 2023

Mail system engineers, assuming the updates had been made, built in no additional authentication, leaving the mail system blind to what sort of key was used. —Wes Davis, The Verge, 6 Sep. 2023

For example, fingerprint or facial recognition could enable more secure and convenient user authentication, while education and job history data could facilitate networking and professional opportunities. —Chloe Taylor, Fortune, 31 Aug. 2023

Google took a hybrid approach that combines a traditional public-key cryptography algorithm with Dilithium for authentication. —IEEE Spectrum, 29 Aug. 2023

He’s laid off most of the company’s employees, instituted a paywall and eliminated most account authentication, among other changes. —Jennifer Korn, CNN, 10 Aug. 2023

Another large voice authentication vendor, Nuance, saw its first successful deepfake attack on a financial services client late last year. —Stacy Cowley, New York Times, 29 June 2023

And 2-factor authentication is just an extra shield that will prevent a hacker from getting into your accounts. —Kurt Knutsson, Fox News, 2 Sep. 2023

Unlike a peer-to-peer marketplace, all fulfillment thereafter—payment, authentication, servicing, insurance, shipping—is carried out by Subdial, enabling clients to trade anonymously but securely. —WIRED, 9 Aug. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

authentic(ate) + -ation

First Known Use

1612, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing authentication

• multifactor authentication
• two-factor authentication

• multifactor authentication
• two-factor authentication