Log in or Sign up
  1. avow love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To acknowledge openly, boldly, and unashamedly; confess: avow guilt. See Synonyms at acknowledge.
  2. v. To state positively.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To own or acknowledge obligation or relation to, as a person: as, he avowed him for his son.
  2. To sanction; approve.
  3. To declare openly, often with a view to justify, maintain, or defend: as, to avow one's principles.
  4. Specifically, in law, to acknowledge and justify, as when the distrainer of goods defends in an action of replevin, and avows the taking, but insists that such taking was legal. See avowry, 1.
  5. 5. To admit or confess openly or frankly; acknowledge; own: as, to avow one's self a convert.
  6. Synonyms To affirm, assert, profess. Admit, Confess, etc. See acknowledge.
  7. In law, to justify or maintain an act done, specifically a distress for rent taken in one's own right.
  8. n. An avowal; a bold declaration.
  9. To bind with a vow.
  10. 2. To devote or dedicate by a vow; vow.
  11. To vow to do or keep; promise; undertake.
  12. To bind one's self by a vow; make a vow; vow.
  13. n. A vow; a promise.

Wiktionary

  1. v. transitive To declare openly and boldly, as something believed to be right; to own, acknowledge or confess frankly.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To declare openly, as something believed to be right; to own or acknowledge frankly.
  2. v. (Law) To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See Avowry.
  3. n. obsolete Avowal.
  4. v. obsolete To bind, or to devote, by a vow.
  5. n. Archaic A vow or determination.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true
  2. v. admit openly and bluntly; make no bones about

Etymologies

  1. From Old French avouer, from Latin advocare ("to call to, call upon, hence to call as a witness, defender, patron, or advocate"), from ad ("to") + vocare ("to call"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English avowen, from Old French avouer, from Latin advocāre, to call upon; see advocate. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “To punish men for beliefs they dare to avow is to risk punishing the sincere and to allow hypocrites to go unpunished.”

    LIBERALISM

  • “Yet she could not bring herself to avow it openly, either at or after the luncheon.”

    Latin America

  • “In order to achieve full civil rights now, we avow:”

    The Dallas Principles

  • “Ennahda party leaders have said that the Assembly will focus on democracy, human rights and a free-market economy -- and will not introduce Sharia law or other Islamic concepts to alter what they avow to be a secular constitutional text.”

    The Huffington Post: Daniel Wagner: Tunisia's Constitutional Challenge

  • “They openly avow their objective is to institute Sharia law wherever they rule.”

    The Huffington Post: Ken Blackwell: Arab Spring/Islamist Fall

  • “For many Christians, America has become a fierce goddess, who claims more of their loyalty than the God in whose name they have been baptized and whose absolute Lordship they solemnly avow.”

    The Huffington Post: Miroslav Volf: Did 9/11 Make Us Morally 'Better'?

  • “Federation, speaking of the National Civic Federation soon after its inception, said: To fall into one another's arms, to avow friendship, to express regret at the injury which has been done, would not alter the facts of the situation.”

    THE CLASS STRUGGLE

  • “Your position - that they are all guilty until they publicly avow themselves innocent (thus exposing themselves and their reputations to accusations from unscrupulous persons) - is simply irrational, and, as I said before, completely ineffective.”

    A friendly suggestion to former McCain campaign staffers. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState

  • “And as they treat of village manners, and rural scenes, it appears to me not ill-timed to avow, that I have hopes of meeting in some degree the approbation of my country.”

    Critical Review, 35 (May 1802), 67–75

  • “For some time I was lost in conjecture as to the cause of this; but yesterday an idea struck me, and if it is well founded, I conjure you to avow it.”

    Chapter 1

Show 10 more examples...

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

synonyms (5)

Words with the same meaning

  1. acknowledge
  1. own
  1. confess
  1. avowal
  1. state

antonyms (1)

Words with the opposite meaning

  1. disavow

hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. acknowledge
  1. admit

same context (16)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. staunch
  2. ardent
  3. political
  1. sincere
  2. manifest
  3. instinctive
  1. fanatical
  2. democratic
  3. outspoken
  1. uncompromising
  2. invincible
  3. zealous
  1. lifelong
  2. steadfast
  3. notorious
  1. selfish

rhymes (61)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Bilbao
  2. Bow
  3. Chao
  4. Chow
  5. Dow
  6. Frau
  7. Howe
  8. Lao
  9. Liao
  10. Macao
  11. Macau
  12. Mao
  1. Mindanao
  2. Plough
  3. Plow
  4. Qingdao
  5. Tao
  6. Yao
  7. allow
  8. bao
  9. bough
  10. bow
  11. brough
  12. brow
  1. chow
  2. ciao
  3. clough
  4. cow
  5. disallow
  6. disavow
  7. dow
  8. endow
  9. fao
  10. frau
  11. gow
  12. hao
  1. hau
  2. how
  3. howe
  4. kowtow
  5. lough
  6. mao
  7. meow
  8. now
  9. ow
  10. plough
  11. plow
  12. pow
  1. powe
  2. prow
  3. sao
  4. scow
  5. shough
  6. skow
  7. sow
  8. tao
  9. thao
  10. thou
  11. vow
  12. wow
  1. yow

reverse dictionary (14)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. protest
  2. declare
  1. avow
  2. forevouch
  1. knowledge
  2. acknowledge
  1. to declare one's self
  2. avouch
  1. profess
  2. recognize
  1. wager of law
  2. assert
  1. confess
  2. denier

Wordmap

(beta)

Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘avow’.

More lists containing ‘avow’

Comments

No comments yet...

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

Tweets

Looking for tweets for avow.

‘avow’ has been looked up 4225 times, loved by 1 person, added to 26 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 10.