Avow

//əˈvaʊ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    avowal obsolete

    "without thy Knowledge and Avow"

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

    "[…] in 1786, and for some period later, there were few, if any, prominent Americans, who avowed themselves in favor of broadly democratic systems."

  2. 2
    admit openly and bluntly; make no bones about wordnet
  3. 3
    To bind or devote by a vow. transitive

    "No man may halewe and avowe the firste gendrid thingis that perteynen to the Lord, whether it is oxe, whether scheep, tho ben the Lordis part."

  4. 4
    to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true wordnet
  5. 5
    To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See avowry.

    "avow himself the accomplice of his crimes"

Synonyms

All synonyms
affirmacceptacknowledgeadjudgeadmitadmit everything

Example

More examples

""Whoe'er thou art, henceforward blot from mind / the Greeks, and leave thy miseries behind. / Ours shalt thou be; but mark, and tell me now, / what means this monster, for what use designed? / Some warlike engine? or religious vow? / Who planned the steed, and why? Come, quick, the truth avow.""

Etymology

From Middle English avowen, 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”). Doublet of advoke, avouch, and advocate. Not related to vow.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.