avow

American  

[uh-vau] / əˈvaʊ /

verb (used with object)

• avows,
  present (3rd person singular)
• avowed,
  past participle,  past
• avowing
  present participle

1. to declare frankly or openly; assert; confess; admit.

   He avowed himself an opponent of all alliances.

   Synonyms:

   profess, own, declare, affirm, acknowledge

   Antonyms:

   repudiate, disavow, deny

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avow British  

/ əˈvaʊ /

verb

1. to state or affirm

2. to admit openly

3. rare law to justify or maintain (some action taken)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• avowal
  noun
• avower
  noun
• unavowableness
  noun
• reavow
  verb (used with object)
• avowable
  adjective
• avowed
  adjective
• unavowable
  adjective
• avowedly
  adverb
• unavowably
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• avowing
  present
• avowed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• avow
  simple
• avows
  simple
• have avowed
  perfect
• has avowed
  perfect
• am avowing
  progressive
• are avowing
  progressive
• is avowing
  progressive
• have been avowing
  perfect progressive
• has been avowing
  perfect progressive

Past

• avowed
  simple
• had avowed
  perfect
• was avowing
  progressive
• were avowing
  progressive
• had been avowing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will avow
  simple
• will have avowed
  perfect
• will be avowing
  progressive
• will have been avowing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of avow

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English avowen, from Old French avoue(r), from Latin advocāre; see advocate

Explanation

When you avow something, you say it openly for the whole world to hear. If you're a witness in a trial, you'll be asked to take an oath in which you'll avow that you'll tell the truth. A simple way to remember the meaning of avow is that it sounds and looks a whole lot like "a vow," to which it's closely related. At the end of almost every wedding, the couple takes their vows, in which they avow their commitment to each other. To take a vow is to avow the things that you say in that vow. Be sure that you mean what you say when you avow something, because people will hold you to it. And don't mutter or mumble. That's no way to avow something.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

avow avows avowed avowing

There are still Laemmles in the movie business, and any Los Angeles cinephile will avow that the family is doing God’s work.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2023

U.S. secretary of state John Quincy Adams, however, considered it “more candid as well as more dignified” for the new country “to avow our principles explicitly” than to allow the British to take the lead.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

"Instead of trashing volunteerism as inherently elitist, why not avow and attest to its ongoing value as a vital part of necessary diversification and cultural change?"

From Fox News ● Oct. 17, 2021

It’s not uncommon for parents to want to keep their kids locked away from these devices, or to avow the blessings of the screenless life.

From Slate ● Feb. 5, 2020

“I avow, Serjeant, we shall commit ourselves wholly to philosophy without a grain of intelligence intermixed.”

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

“You’re lovable and you’re worthy of love,” avows another.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 31, 2023

The ability to turn back whether or not you’ve reached your destination “takes preparation over many passing years,” avows Guterson.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 11, 2019

It avows an anti-elitist attentiveness to the industrially humdrum.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2019

“I couldn’t have done it this well myself,” he avows.

From Slate ● May 22, 2016

On his exit she is joined by Guido, who, for the first time, declares his love, while she avows hers in turn.

From Oscar Wilde by Leonard Cresswell Ingleby

Anyway, if the debt should finally sink the public credit, Smith prescribed an open and avowed national bankruptcy rather than the treacherous debasement of the coin of the realm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Charli is an avowed film buff, whose fifth album was named after David Cronenberg's notorious body-horror film Crash.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Vance built his political brand as an avowed anti-interventionist who wanted to keep America out of any more foreign wars, like in Iraq where he served as a US Marine.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

As a cleric in his 20s, he encountered Khomeini, a charismatic religious leader and avowed opponent of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2026

“Yes. I know beyond question that he has sworn his allegiance to Arawn. He is Arawn’s avowed champion. Once again, the power of Annuvin threatens Prydain.”

From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander

Scholz has been steadfast in publicly avowing Berlin’s support for Kyiv and condemning Moscow’s invasion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2023

Barron’s successor, Neeli Bendapudi, canceled the project in late October, avowing a commitment to equity and inclusion but saying it would be “more impactful” to enhance support for existing work on racial bias.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 5, 2023

She also thanked the female late-night hosts who have come before her, avowing that she “couldn’t have done it without them paving the path.”

From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2019

One actor, while avowing his total support for the Fair Wage Onstage campaign, admitted that the conversation around it might be driving him out of the theatre.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 14, 2016

I will now, if you please, undertake the somewhat dangerous responsibility of avowing my own impressions of the letters I am about to read to you.

From Letters to the Clergy On The Lord's Prayer and the Church by John Ruskin