averment means the act of averring, or that which is averred; positive assertion. It carries an Arena rating of 1644, earned across 12 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, averment ranks #4,304 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #5,335 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #6,016 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #6,961 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
Why “averment” is a great word
AVERMENT — [Noun] A positive assertion or statement of facts, especially one made formally as in a legal pleading. From Middle English averement, from Old French averrement, from averer ("to verify, prove true"), from Vulgar Latin *advērāre, from Latin ad- ("to") + vērus ("true"). First attested in late Middle English (1400–50). Unlike an "allegation" (which suggests an unproven and often contested claim) or a simple "assertion" (which may stand on confidence alone), an averment is a proposition laid down with procedural gravity, presented as verity and backed by an implicit covenant to prove it. It is the precise, inked paragraph in a sworn affidavit; the crisp typeface of a numbered complaint; the measured tone of a fact placed irrevocably on the record—a small, structured bastion of claimed fact against the silent tide of everything else.
Etymology
From Middle English averement, from Old French averrement, averement, from averer (Modern French avérer).
noun
- The act of averring, or that which is averred; positive assertion.e.g.“And for some of these averments, he added, substantiating proof was not far.” — 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 16, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:
- verification; establishment by evidence.
- A positive statement of facts; an allegation; an offer to justify or prove what is alleged.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.