purport
noun
- intention or purpose
verb
- claim, pretend
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈpɜːpɔːt/ / /ˈpɜːpət/ / /ˈpɚpɔɹt/ / /pəˈpɔːt/ / /pɚˈpɔɹt/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English purporten, from Anglo-Norman purporter and Old French porporter (“convey, contain, carry”), from pur-, from Latin pro (“forth”) + Old French porter (“carry”), from Latin portō (“carry”).
- Import, intention or purpose.
“My practice, you say, refutes my doubts. But you mistake the purport of my question.”
“Sorrowful, phantasmal as this same Double Aristocracy of Teachers and Governors now looks, it is worth all men’s while to know that the purport of it is, and remains, noble and most real.”
- A disguise; a covering.
“For she her sex under that strange purport / Did use to hide.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English purporten, from Anglo-Norman purporter and Old French porporter (“convey, contain, carry”), from pur-, from Latin pro (“forth”) + Old French porter (“carry”), from Latin portō (“carry”).
- To convey, imply, or profess (often falsely or inaccurately).
“He purports himself to be an international man of affairs.”
“The intermediate station seen here, Llanbister Road, is 5 hilly miles by road from the town it purports to serve.”
- To intend.
“He purported to become an international man of affairs.”
“In all cases, however, although micronations may purport to assert sovereignty in any number of ways, they remain conceptually distinct from recognised sovereign states.”