Avow
[ə'vaʊ]
Definition
(v. t.) To declare openly, as something believed to be right; to own or acknowledge frankly; as, a man avows his principles or his crimes.
(v. t.) To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See Avowry.
(n.) Avowal.
(n.) To bind, or to devote, by a vow.
(n.) A vow or determination.
Checked by Eli
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Acknowledge, confess, own, profess, declare, affirm.
Edited by Antony
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See AVOUCH]
Editor: Stephen
Definition
v.t. to declare openly: to own or confess: to affirm or maintain: (law) to justify an act done.—n. a solemn promise: a vow.—pa.p. as adj. self-acknowledged.—adj. Avow′able.—ns. Avow′ableness Avow′ance (obs.); Avow′al a positive declaration: a frank confession.—adv. Avow′edly.—n. Avow′ry (law) the act of avowing and justifying in one's own right the distraining of goods: (obs.) advocacy considered as personified in a patron saint.
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Examples
- She did not deny, she did not avow, but looked at me. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- I fear it might be; I fear it was; but in that case I must avow no light share of weakness. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Do you wonder that I avow this to you? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- To avow before what altar I now kneel--to reveal the present idol of my soul---- You will make haste about it, if you please. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- To answer would have been to avow that the cap fitted. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It may seem less unreasonable, if I avow to you that although I don't know Mr Lightwood, I have a disagreeable association connected with him. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Isidore far more than you think, or will avow. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- To encourage tillage, by keeping up the price of corn, even in the most plentiful years, was the avowed end of the institution. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- A rotation of this kind seems alone a sufficient security against any practices which cannot be avowed. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The interest in both is of the very same kind: It is general, avowed, and prevails in all times and places. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Nor is it a desire of such a performance: For we may bind ourselves without such a desire, or even with an aversion, declared and avowed. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Whispers reach me of Miss Shepherd having said she wished I wouldn't stare so, and having avowed a preference for Master Jones--for Jones! Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- After the tissue of social falsehoods in which she had so long moved it was refreshing to step into the open daylight of an avowed expediency. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- The performance of this horrid office is even said to be the avowed business by which some people earn their subsistence. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The cool contempt of her manner irritated me into directly avowing that the purpose of my visit had not been answered yet. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- This De Grantmesnil declined, avowing himself vanquished as much by the courtesy as by the address of his opponent. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
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