Manifesto

How to spell manifesto

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce manifesto

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does manifesto mean?

1. nounA published statement setting out the aims, policies, or intentions of a group, party, or individual.

Manifesto in a sentence

• The party released its election manifesto a month before polling day.

• The artists drafted a manifesto describing the principles behind their new movement.

Where does manifesto come from?

Language of origin: Italian

This word came into English in the mid-1600s straight from Italian, where manifesto meant a public declaration or proclamation. The Italian word grew from the Latin adjective manifestus, meaning 'clear', 'evident', or 'plainly apprehended', the same root that gives us the English verb 'manifest'. Latin scholars trace manifestus to manus, meaning 'hand', combined with an element related to seizing or striking, so the original flavour was something 'caught red-handed' or so obvious it could almost be grasped by the hand. Over time the Italian noun came to describe a written statement in which a ruler, party, or group set out its intentions plainly for all to see. The everyday political sense, a public statement of aims, especially by a party before an election, became firmly fixed in English by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Remembering that 'manifest' sits inside it, with a single n, single s, and single t, helps avoid doubling any of the consonants.

How the word is built

• manifest (from Latin manifestus: clear, plainly visible)
• -o (Italian noun ending)