avow
verb
Simple meaning
To declare openly and boldly, as something believed to be right.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhvowSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈvaʊ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To declare openly and boldly, as something believed to be right; to own, acknowledge or confess frankly.
transitive
To bind or devote by a vow.
law
To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See avowry.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To declare openly and boldly, as something believed to be right; to own, acknowledge or confess frankly.
Used this way, avow is a reasonably familiar word that can pull warm or cold depending on the sentence. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Mixed
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Direct, sometimes tactless
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Usage note
The same wording can read approvingly or critically, so the surrounding sentence has to make the intent clear.
Nearby words
- affirm , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: to declare openly and boldly
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.