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declare

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

7 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "declare", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "declare" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "declare" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

declare is aEnglishverb. It means: To make clear, explain, interpret. Pronounced /dɪˈklɛə/. It ranks #6,555 in English word frequency. Often confused with decline and deflate.

Key facts for declare
PropertyValue
Headworddeclare
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/dɪˈklɛə/
Letters7
Frequency rank#6,555
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of declare in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for declare is 7 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪˈklɛə/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,555 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for declare, with forms such as "dcelare", "ddeclare", and "decalre". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "decline", "deflate", "declared", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English declaren, from Old French declarer, from Latin dēclārō (“to make clear”), from dē- + clārus (“clear”). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is declare, spelled D-E-C-L-A-R-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    To make clear, explain, interpret.
  2. 2
    To assert or announce formally, officially, explicitly, or emphatically.
  3. 3
    To inform government customs or taxation officials of goods one is importing or of income, expenses, or other circumstances affecting one's taxes.
  4. 4
    To show one's cards in order to score.
  5. 5
    For a constituency in an election to officially announce the result
  6. 6
    The decision of the captain to let the bowling side bat in test cricket to save time without being all out.
  7. 7
    To explicitly establish the existence of (a variable, function, etc.) without necessarily describing its content.
  8. 8
    to declare war
  9. 9
    To state that a thing shall happen or affirm a condition in the hopes of seeing it happen spiritually, in contrast to prayer which takes the form of a request.

Etymology

From Middle English declaren, from Old French declarer, from Latin dēclārō (“to make clear”), from dē- + clārus (“clear”).

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: dcelare,ddeclare,decalre,decclare,declaer,declarre,decllare,declrae,delcare,edclare

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for declare

Misspelling Variants of "declare"

dcelare7ddeclare8decalre7decclare8declaer7declarre8decllare8declrae7
Misspelling Variants of "declare"

Frequency rank: #6,555 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "declare"?
"declare" is spelled D-E-C-L-A-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /dɪˈklɛə/.
What does "declare" mean?
As a verb, "declare" means: To make clear, explain, interpret.
What words are commonly confused with "declare"?
"declare" is commonly confused with "decline", "deflate", "declared". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "declare"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "declare" is /dɪˈklɛə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "declare"?
From Middle English declaren, from Old French declarer, from Latin dēclārō (“to make clear”), from dē- + clārus (“clear”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.