proclaim

English

Alternative forms

• proclaime, proclame (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English proclamen, proclaime, from Old French proclamer, from Latin prōclāmō, prōclāmāre, from prō- (“forth”) + clāmō (“to shout, cry out”). Spelling altered by influence of claim, from the same Latin source (clāmō).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹəʊˈkleɪm/

  • Audio (Southern England)

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• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊˈkleɪm/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɹəʉˈklæɪm/
• Rhymes: -eɪm
• Hyphenation: pro‧claim

Verb

proclaim (third-person singular simple present proclaims, present participle proclaiming, simple past and past participle proclaimed)

1. To announce or declare.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.

2. (dated or historical) To make the subject of an official proclamation bringing it within the scope of emergency powers
   • 1824 May 19, "MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS, Appointed to examine into the Nature and Extent of the Disturbances which have prevailed in those Districts of IRELAND which are now subject to the Provisions of the Insurrection Act, and to report to The House" Evidence of Richard Griffith p.37

     Were those baronies proclaimed at the time you were in them? –Some of them are; the barony of Duhallow is proclaimed.

   • 1834 June 5, Montague L. Chapman , Hansard HC Deb ser 3 vol 24 col 236

     the Magistrates present, naturally excited by the occurrence, applied to Government to proclaim the baronies in which the outrage had occurred

   • 1940 Major General Hugh MacNeill, "Na Fianna Éireann; Senior Corps of the Old Army" (An Cosantóir) reprinted in Our Struggle for Independence: Eye-witness Accounts from the Pages of 'An Cosantóir' p.184

     In due course the Dáil was proclaimed, fruitless efforts were made to suppress it and all its institutions, including, of course, the IRA.

Synonyms

• (to announce or declare): disclose, make known; See also Thesaurus:announce

Derived terms

• self-proclaimed

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• picloram