Skip to main content
avowed

avowed

11 6.5
Said in public and not hidden
  • adjective
  • /əˈvaʊd/
  • Formal
translation icon : declarado
  • She was an avowed atheist who achieved fame in 1963 by opposing prayer in public schools.
  • avowed purpose
  • avowed intention
  • avowed aim

I mean, he was an avowed and strident Marxist.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Indeed, the newly elected president of the Bosnian Serbs' Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, is an avowed moderate.

    Academic text (1998)
  • I would maintain that Labe's avowed choice of genre is far from accidental.

    Academic text (1992)
  • General, it is the avowed policy of our country... ...never to strike first with nuclear weapons.

  • This avowed opponent of the Church is convicted, according to the law.

  • And it's one of the things, quite frankly, that drew me to Trump, his avowed opposition to the Iraq war.

  • "For example," he adds, "I am an avowed secularist and a Catholic at the same time...

    Academic text (1996)
  • I mean, he was an avowed and strident Marxist.

  • All of you listening to me out there realizes that... Communism is the avowed enemy of the free world.

  • Nehru himself was an avowed agnostic, as was his daughter until she discovered the electoral advantages of public piety.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The politician made an avowed commitment to improve public education.

Synonyms

declared
vsavowed
3.0

Openly stated or officially announced

is admitted openly and confidently without any hesitation
proclaimed
vsavowed
3.7

People announce it publicly so others know

is a personal confident admission rather than a formal broadcast
stated
vsavowed
2.7

Said or written clearly, often in an official way

is more personal and confidently admitted rather than only formal
professed
vsavowed
6.0

Said or claimed but maybe not true

is a sincere open admission without hint of insincerity
expressed
vsavowed
3.2

Words or actions make it clear

is specifically public and confidently admitted rather than just shown

How Open

public
1.0
overt
53 5.1
avowed
  • Formal
11 6.5
implicit
49 6.1
tacit
19 7.8

Surface Forms

avowed positive

Morphology

avowed = avow (transparent) = avow + ed

Formed by the regular adjectival/past-participial suffix '-ed' on the verb 'avow', so the meaning 'openly declared' is directly derivable.

Etymology

Avowed comes from the verb avow, which grew from an old word meaning 'to own' or 'to admit' something openly. So, to be avowed today is to have publicly 'owned' or declared a belief, opinion, or plan.