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avowal

avowal

1 8.2
A public statement that openly says you believe or feel something
  • noun
  • /əˈvaʊəl/
  • Formal
translation icon : declaración
  • The Martyrdom of Pionius contains two nearly identical scenes that juxtapose an avowal of Christian identity with this scriptural motif.

Examples

  • The politician's avowal of support for the new law won him many voters.

  • People with normal speech capacities are not inclined to keep their beliefs to themselves; they are disposed toward their avowal or transmission, subject to certain important constraints.

    Academic text (2001)
  • In the first sequence, she resists with all her might an avowal of love she cannot bring herself to make.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The public avowals of Begin's party are no guide whatever to its actual character.

    Blog text (21)
  • Their resolutions are filled with avowals of their determination to meet their responsibilities.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Just as importantly, these celebrations featured prominent displays of ethnicity and avowals of ethnic loyalty.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Contradictory avowals of sympathy and practices of distancing, as I show below, were deeply intertwined in early socialism.

    Academic text (2018)
  • Since embracing Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, feminists have puzzled over her cryptic avowal of "a woman's sentence."

    Fiction book (1993)
  • But the pledges and avowals in Bogan's lyrics really do, in no vague metaphorical way, reshape before our eyes a poetic mind.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Her heartfelt avowal of love surprised everyone at the wedding.

Synonyms

statement
vsavowal
  • Formal
1.3

A clear report given in speech or writing, often to officials

is specifically a public personal admission rather than any general expression
assertion
vsavowal
168 4.0

A confident statement made without showing proof

is more public and admits inner belief or feeling rather than just asserting it
declaration
vsavowal
  • Formal
150 3.7

A formal public statement made by a person or agreed by a group

is specifically a personal public admission often about belief or feeling
admission
vsavowal
117 3.8

A statement where someone says they did something after denying it

is similar but emphasises public declaration of belief or feeling rather than private confession
affirmation
vsavowal
36 3.8

A positive statement that something is true or good

leans more to admitting or declaring personal beliefs publicly rather than mere assertion
avouchment
vsavowal
  • Archaic
9.9

A formal statement that says something is true

is the public admission form focusing on admitting beliefs or feelings
affirmance
vsavowal
  • Archaic
9.6

A formal statement saying something is true instead of swearing an oath

is similar but centres on personal public admission rather than legal formality
averment
vsavowal
  • Jargon
9.9

A confident statement that has no evidence

is more about openly admitting or declaring personal truth than legal claim
asseveration
vsavowal
  • Formal
9.9

A strong, serious statement that someone says is true

is more about publicly admitting something, not only forceful assertion

Antonyms

disavowal
  • Formal
2 8.1

A public statement saying you have no knowledge of or connection to something

How Open

proclamation
  • Formal
59 5.5
declaration
  • Formal
150 3.7
avowal
  • Formal
1 8.2
admission
117 3.8
statement
  • Formal
1.3
to comment
589 1.7

Surface Forms

avowal singular
avowals plural

Morphology

avowal = avow (transparent) = avow + al

Standard noun formation from the verb 'avow' with predictable meaning 'an act of avowing' or declaration.

Etymology

Avowal comes from the old verb avow, which means 'to declare openly' or 'admit'. Picture someone standing up and saying the truth out loud, and you will see why an avowal is a public statement or admission.