Statement

How to spell statement

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce statement

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does statement mean?

1. nounA definite or formal expression of something in speech or writing.
2. nounA printed or electronic record of transactions on an account over a period.

Statement in a sentence

• The minister issued a brief statement to the press after the meeting.

• She checked her bank statement to see whether the refund had arrived.

• The witness signed a written statement describing what she had seen.

• The monthly credit card statement listed every purchase she had made.

Where does statement come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the verb 'state', which came into English from the Latin status, meaning 'condition, position, or standing', itself derived from the verb stare, 'to stand'. By the seventeenth century English speakers were using 'state' to mean 'to set out or declare formally', the idea being that you make something stand fixed and clear. Adding the French-derived suffix -ment, which turns a verb into a noun naming the result of the action, produced 'statement', recorded from the early eighteenth century with the sense of 'something formally declared'. The financial meaning, a periodic record of an account, grew naturally from the same notion of a formal setting-out of facts. The spelling stays regular because the silent 'e' of 'state' is preserved before the -ment suffix, which is the small point writers occasionally slip on.

How the word is built

• state (from Latin status: condition, position)
• -ment (noun suffix forming the result of an action)