declaration

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An explicit, formal announcement, either oral or written.
• noun The act or process of declaring.
• noun A statement of taxable goods or of properties subject to duty.
• noun A formal statement initiating a lawsuit by specifying the facts and legal grounds for the relief sought; a complaint or petition.
• noun An unsworn statement of facts that is admissible as evidence.
• noun Games A bid, especially the final bid of a hand in certain card games.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In card-playing, an announcement or meld; in bridge, specifically, the naming of the trump suit by the dealer. Sometimes called the make.
• noun the neutral flag covers enemy's goods, except when contraband;
• noun neutral goods, except when contraband, are not liable to capture under an enemy's flag;
• noun blockades to be binding must be effective. The United States refused to accept the first of these, but concurred in the others.
• noun A clearing up; that which makes plain; explanation.
• noun A positive or formal statement in regard to anything; affirmation; explicit assertion; avowal; publication; proclamation.
• noun That which is proclaimed or declared; specifically, the document or instrument by which an announcement or assertion is formally made: as, the Declaration of Independence.
• noun In law: At common law, the pleading in which the plaintiff formally presents the allegations on which he bases his claim for relief in a civil action: now more commonly called complaint.
• noun In the criminal law of Scotland, the account which a prisoner who has been apprehended on suspicion of having committed a crime gives of himself, to be taken down in writing, on his examination.
• noun A confession of faith or doctrine: as, the Auburn Declaration; the Savoy Declaration, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of declaring, or publicly announcing; explicit asserting; undisguised token of a ground or side taken on any subject; proclamation; exposition
• noun That which is declared or proclaimed; announcement; distinct statement; formal expression; avowal.
• noun The document or instrument containing such statement or proclamation.
• noun (Law) That part of the process or pleadings in which the plaintiff sets forth in order and at large his cause of complaint; the narration of the plaintiff's case containing the count, or counts. See Count, n., 3.
• noun (Amer. Hist.) See Declaration of Independence in the vocabulary. See also under Independence.
• noun (Eng. Hist) See Bill of rights, under Bill.
• noun (Law) a paper subscribed by a grantee of property, acknowledging that he holds it in trust for the purposes and upon the terms set forth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A written or oral indication of a fact, opinion, or belief.
• noun A list of items for various legal purposes, e.g. customs declaration.
• noun The act or process of declaring.
• noun cricket The act, by the captain of a batting side, of declaring an innings closed.
• noun law In common law, the formal document specifying plaintiff’s cause of action, including the facts necessary to sustain a proper cause of action, and to advise the defendant of the grounds upon which he is being sued.
• noun computing The specification of a variables type

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a formal public statement
• noun a statement that is emphatic and explicit (spoken or written)
• noun (contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make
• noun (law) unsworn statement that can be admitted in evidence in a legal transaction
• noun a statement of taxable goods or of dutiable properties
• noun a formal expression by a meeting; agreed to by a vote