Claim Definition

klām

claimed, claiming, claims

verb

claimed, claiming, claims

To demand or ask for as rightfully belonging or due to one; assert one's right to (a title, accomplishment, etc. that should be recognized)

To claim a record in the high jump.

Webster's New World

To take in a violent manner as if by right.

A hurricane that claimed two lives.

American Heritage

To state as a fact or as one's belief (something that may be called into question); assert.

Webster's New World

To call for; require; deserve.

A problem that claims attention.

Webster's New World

To demand ownership of.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

noun

claims

A demand for something rightfully or allegedly due.

Webster's New World

A right or title to something.

Her sole claim to fame.

Webster's New World

Something claimed.

Webster's New World

Something claimed in a formal or legal manner, especially a tract of public land staked out by a miner or homesteader.

American Heritage

A demand for payment in accordance with an insurance policy or other formal arrangement.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

idiom

lay claim to

To assert one's right to or ownership of.

American Heritage

lay claim to

to assert one's right or title to

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Claim

Noun

Singular:

claim

Plural:

claims

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Claim

lay claim to
lay claim to

Origin of Claim

From Middle English claimen, from Old French claimer, clamer (“to call, name, send for”), from Latin clāmō (“to call, cry out”), from Proto-Indo-European *kele- (“to shout”), which is imitative; see also Lithuanian kalba (“language”), Old English hlowan (“to low, make a noise like a cow”), Old High German halan (“to call”), Ancient Greek καλέω (kaleō, “to call, convoke”), κλεδον (kledon, “report, fame”), κέλαδος (kelados, “noise”), Middle Irish cailech (“cock”), Latin calō (“to call out, announce solemnly”), Sanskrit उषःकाल (uṣaḥkāla, “cock, literally dawn-calling”).

From Wiktionary
Middle English claimen from Old French clamer claim- from Latin clāmāre to call kelə-² in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition