Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An explicit, formal announcement, either oral or written.
  • noun The act or process of declaring.
  • noun A statement of taxable goods or of properties subject to duty.
  • noun A formal statement initiating a lawsuit by specifying the facts and legal grounds for the relief sought; a complaint or petition.
  • noun An unsworn statement of facts that is admissible as evidence.
  • noun Games A bid, especially the final bid of a hand in certain card games.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A clearing up; that which makes plain; explanation.
  • noun A positive or formal statement in regard to anything; affirmation; explicit assertion; avowal; publication; proclamation.
  • noun That which is proclaimed or declared; specifically, the document or instrument by which an announcement or assertion is formally made: as, the Declaration of Independence.
  • noun In law: At common law, the pleading in which the plaintiff formally presents the allegations on which he bases his claim for relief in a civil action: now more commonly called complaint.
  • noun In the criminal law of Scotland, the account which a prisoner who has been apprehended on suspicion of having committed a crime gives of himself, to be taken down in writing, on his examination.
  • noun A confession of faith or doctrine: as, the Auburn Declaration; the Savoy Declaration, etc.
  • noun In card-playing, an announcement or meld; in bridge, specifically, the naming of the trump suit by the dealer. Sometimes called the make.
  • noun the neutral flag covers enemy's goods, except when contraband;
  • noun neutral goods, except when contraband, are not liable to capture under an enemy's flag;
  • noun blockades to be binding must be effective. The United States refused to accept the first of these, but concurred in the others.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of declaring, or publicly announcing; explicit asserting; undisguised token of a ground or side taken on any subject; proclamation; exposition
  • noun That which is declared or proclaimed; announcement; distinct statement; formal expression; avowal.
  • noun The document or instrument containing such statement or proclamation.
  • noun (Law) That part of the process or pleadings in which the plaintiff sets forth in order and at large his cause of complaint; the narration of the plaintiff's case containing the count, or counts. See Count, n., 3.
  • noun (Amer. Hist.) See Declaration of Independence in the vocabulary. See also under Independence.
  • noun (Eng. Hist) See Bill of rights, under Bill.
  • noun (Law) a paper subscribed by a grantee of property, acknowledging that he holds it in trust for the purposes and upon the terms set forth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A written or oral indication of a fact, opinion, or belief.
  • noun A list of items for various legal purposes, e.g. customs declaration.
  • noun The act or process of declaring.
  • noun cricket The act, by the captain of a batting side, of declaring an innings closed.
  • noun law In common law, the formal document specifying plaintiff’s cause of action, including the facts necessary to sustain a proper cause of action, and to advise the defendant of the grounds upon which he is being sued.
  • noun computing The specification of a variables type

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a formal public statement
  • noun a statement that is emphatic and explicit (spoken or written)
  • noun (contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make
  • noun (law) unsworn statement that can be admitted in evidence in a legal transaction
  • noun a statement of taxable goods or of dutiable properties
  • noun a formal expression by a meeting; agreed to by a vote

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English declaracion ("declaration"), from French déclaration, from Latin declarationem, corresponding to declare +‎ -ation

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Examples

Comments

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  • c1374 CHAUCER Boeth. III. x. (Camb. MS.) 71-2 Thyse geometryens whan they han shewyd hyr proposiciouns ben wont to bryngen in thinges that they clepyn porysmes or declaraciouns of forseyde thinges.

    July 4, 2008