claim

KLAYM/kleɪm/

Verbclaims, claiming, claimed

Noun pluralclaims

15 meanings of claim

Practice

1
allegeverbtransitive
To state something as a fact, usually without offering evidence that it is true.
Critics claim the study was rushed, though they cite no specific errors.
The salesman claimed his product could double crop yields overnight.
UsageOften claim that + clause or claim to + verb: he claims to be a doctor, she claims to have met him.
Similarassert, allege, maintain, contend, insist
Oppositedeny
2
nouncountable
A statement put forward as true, especially one that has not yet been proved or checked.
The scientist's claim still awaits confirmation from other labs.
Several claims in the article lacked any supporting data.
UsageOften the claim that + clause or claims of fraud; calling something a claim, not a fact, suggests it may be untrue.
Similarassertion, allegation, contention, statement
Oppositedenial
3
damages requestnouncountable
A formal request for money one is owed or entitled to, such as damages, compensation, an insurance payment, benefits or expenses.
The claim for damages was settled out of court.
After the flood, she filed an insurance claim to pay for the repairs.
UsageUsually make, file or bring a claim: a claim for damages, a claim against the driver.
Similarsuit, lawsuit, action
Oppositewaiver
Note
In law and insurance the word names a demand that normally has to be backed by evidence before it is paid. A lawsuit may end in judgment, dismissal or settlement, often out of court, while an insurance claim may be paid or denied. Bringing the demand is covered by the legal verb.
4
verbtransitive
To demand or take something, such as property, land, a title or credit, as rightfully one's own.
Both brothers claim the family farm as their own.
He claimed the reward as soon as he returned the wallet.
UsageOften claim something as your own; also claim credit for or claim responsibility for something.
Similardemand
Oppositeconcede
Note
Behind the demand is a shout. Middle English claimen came through Old French clamer, "to call, send for," from Latin clāmāre, "to cry out," which goes back to an imitative root. The sense of demanding grew out of that calling, and the "call or name" meaning keeps the older voice. The verb still sounds public, as when Leyla Linton's 1996 report in The Times quotes a student denying China's right to claim Taiwan.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
English claim derives from Middle English claimen, borrowed from Old French clamer, meaning to call or send for. en.wiktionary.org
Old French clamer derives from Latin clāmāre, meaning to cry out. en.wiktionary.org
The Latin verb ultimately derives from an imitative root. en.wiktionary.org
Claim has an older meaning to call or name. en.wiktionary.org
A 1996 report by Leyla Linton in The Times quotes a student denying China's right to claim Taiwan. en.wiktionary.org
5
nouncountable
A demand that something other than a payment, such as land, a title, a throne or credit, be recognized as rightfully one's own.
His claim to the inheritance was disputed by his cousins.
Competing claims over the territory led to years of tension.
UsageUsually a claim to something, or over a territory; the set phrase is lay claim to.
Similardemand
Oppositerenunciation
6
verbtransitive
To win something as a prize in a sport or competition.
The young driver claimed victory in his very first race.
Underdogs can claim the championship with a single upset.
UsageMostly with victory, the title, first place or a medal: claim victory, claim the title.
Similarwin, take, secure, capture, clinch
Oppositelose
7
verbtransitive or intransitive
To make a formal application for a payment one is owed or entitled to, such as damages, compensation, an insurance payout, benefits or expenses.
The tenants claim damages for the months without heating.
He claimed full compensation for his lost wages.
UsageThe money can follow directly, claim damages, claim expenses, or come after for: claim for lost wages.
Similarseek
Oppositewaive
8
cause lossverbtransitive
To cause the loss or destruction of someone or something.
The earthquake claimed thousands of lives within minutes.
Wildfires claim vast stretches of forest every summer.
UsageUsually a disaster, attack or illness claims lives or homes: the attack claimed the lives of five people.
Similartake, cost, destroy
Oppositespare, save
Note
The construction is a figurative stretch of the ownership verb: the event is pictured as taking what it destroys for itself.
9
nouncountable
The right or basis on which a demand can be made.
Her academic record gives her a legitimate claim to the scholarship.
The duke's claim to the throne came through his mother's line.
UsageA claim to a title, throne or prize; a claim on a person, their time or money.
Similarright, title, entitlement
10
verbtransitive
To require or take up someone's attention, time, effort, or the like, so that it is not easily available for anything else.
Caring for an aging parent can claim energy that would otherwise go to work or friends.
Several urgent matters claimed the senator's attention, and the bill was set aside for another month.
Similaroccupy, consume, absorb, demand
Note
Here the demand comes from a task rather than a person: the subject is the matter that needs looking after, and the object is attention, time, energy or effort. It works like the ownership meaning, as if the job had a right to those hours. Unlike the meaning of lives lost, what is claimed here is taken up for a while, not lost for good.

Less common meanings

11
mining landnouncountable
A piece of land, usually public land, that someone formally marks out and registers as theirs to use, especially for mining, or their recorded right to it.
He registered his mining claim at the local office.
After weeks of panning along the creek, the prospector staked a claim on a narrow strip of land and rode into town to register it.
UsageUsually stake a claim or register a claim; stake a claim to is also used for asserting a right to anything.
Similarconcession
Note
The phrase stake a claim comes from this sense. Miners in a gold rush marked out new ground with stakes to show where their land began, and the claim could then be registered. Here the word names both the demand and the plot itself. The ownership verb covers the act of taking the land.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
The phrase stake a claim derives from marking and recording a land claim. courses.ems.psu.edu
Gold-rush miners marked the boundaries of their claims with stakes. nps.gov
Staked mining claims could subsequently be registered. nps.gov
12
property gainednouncountable
The thing itself that has been demanded or taken as one's own, rather than the demand for it.
When the treaty was signed, the empire's claim stretched from the coast to the mountains, though few of its settlers had ever seen most of it.
The rival kingdoms each sent soldiers to guard the edge of their claim, a strip of forest that neither side had ever farmed.
Similarproperty, holding
13
verbintransitive
To have a right to something, traced from a person or based on a document such as a will or grant.
The present owners claim under a land grant that the king made in 1680.
The cousins claimed through their grandmother, the only daughter of the original owner.
UsageFollowed by under a document or through or from a person: claim under a will, claim through a grandmother.
Note
John Locke's Two Treatises of Government (1689) asks how "the first ruler, from whom any one claims" came by his authority. To claim from someone is to trace your title back to them. Compare the transitive ownership verb, where the thing demanded is named directly.
14
verbobsolete
To announce or proclaim something publicly.
Note
A use that keeps the word's oldest idea of making a noise in public. Latin clāmāre meant "to call, cry out," from an imitative root for shouting, and Old French clamer meant "to call, name, send for." Here claiming is announcing rather than demanding or asserting. The sense is obsolete, so in modern writing use proclaim or announce instead.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
The sense preserves the ancestral idea of calling or shouting aloud. en.wiktionary.org
Latin clāmāre meant to call or cry out. en.wiktionary.org
The Latin verb derives ultimately from an imitative root meaning to shout. en.wiktionary.org
Old French clamer meant to call, name or send for. en.wiktionary.org
Claim has an obsolete sense meaning to proclaim. en.wiktionary.org
15
verbarchaic
To call or name someone or something.
Note
Edmund Spenser still uses it in Book IV of The Faerie Queene (1596), spelled clamed: nothing in the world "might like to this be clamed," that is, could be called its equal. It is the Old French "to call, name" carried straight into English, from the same root as the obsolete "proclaim" sense. Since it is archaic, a modern reader can easily mistake it for one of the usual senses, such as demanding or asserting.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of claim apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Goes back to an imitative Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to shout," the source of Latin clāmāre ("to call, cry out"); Old French made this clamer ("to call, name, send for"), and Middle English borrowed it as claimen. Spanish llamar and clamar are relatives.