Avowal

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A clear and open statement declaring a belief, opinion, or fact with confidence and sincerity
2. An explicit expression of a conviction or truth that someone acknowledges openly
3. A frank and public acknowledgment or affirmation of a particular view or stance

Etymology: "Avowal" is built from "avow" plus the suffix "-al," which turns a verb into a noun for the act or result of doing something. To avow something is to declare it openly and with confidence, so an avowal is that open declaration itself. The verb "avow" came into English from Old French, where it descended from the Latin "advocare," meaning "to call to" or "to summon," a sense that survives in its legal use: to avow an action was to take open responsibility for it in court. The suffix has a longer pedigree than the verb. It goes back through Latin "-ālis," which formed adjectives meaning "relating to," and passed into Old French as "-el" and "-al," and then into Middle English. English then used it productively to build nouns like "arrival" and "refusal" from verbs, which is how "avowal" took shape.

Synonyms: assertion, declaration, confirmation

Antonyms: disavowal, denial