Averring

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Affirming a proposition with strong conviction or confidence
2. Expressing a belief or statement with certainty and clear assurance
3. Declaring something to be the case in a confident and assertive manner

Etymology: The verb "aver" has two possible ancestors, and the more striking one is not about truth at all. Its older English relatives meant "a workhorse" or "livestock," and the same stem also gave Middle English words for property and wealth. Scholars are divided on whether that line goes back to Latin "habēre," "to have, hold," or to an Old English word for a tenant's obligation to haul goods. Either way, the sense of possession is what underlies the earliest forms. The verb that means "to declare confidently" has a different and clearer source. It came into English through Old French "averer" from Early Medieval Latin "advērāre," built from Latin "vērus," "true." To aver is, literally, to make something true, or at least to vouch for it. The English verb is therefore a near-homonym of the older word for livestock, but the two are not the same word, and the meaning of confident assertion comes entirely from the Latin "true" root.

Synonyms: asserting, claiming, declaring, stating, testifying

Antonyms: denying, disclaiming, contradicting, rejecting, refuting