Claim

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /kleɪm/

Definitions

1. To state that something is true or that you have a right to something, often without providing proof
2. To assert something as true or to maintain a right to something, typically without adequate substantiation
3. To declare something as a fact or to demand entitlement to something, usually without sufficient evidence

Etymology: The verb "claim" carries a legal and social sense of demanding something as one's due, yet its ancestor was simply a shout. Its root, reconstructed as "kelh₁-", meant "to shout", and it survives in Latin "clāmāre", "to call out or cry aloud", which is also the source of "clamour". The Latin verb passed through Old French "clamer", where it meant "to call, name, or send for", and reached English in Middle English as "claimen". The Old French sense of "calling" is the bridge between a cry and a demand. To call out for something is to summon it, and a summons can become a formal assertion of a right. That shift from vocal appeal to legal entitlement is what separates the English word from its loud origins, while the declaring-a-fact sense grew from the same idea of publicly proclaiming a position. Its cousins are scattered widely. Ancient Greek "kaléō" means "to call", and Old English "hlōwan" meant "to low", as a cow does, showing that the root was once attached to animal noise as well as human speech.

Synonyms: assertion, statement, demand

Antonyms: denial, rejection