# deposition

/ˌdɛpəˈzɪʃən/ (US) · /dˌɛpəsˈɪʃən/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/deposition
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Senses

### 1. legal testimony

noun · CEFR C1 · Formal · Technical

a formal statement that someone makes to be used in a court of law, usually written down or recorded before the trial starts.

For teachers: the process of taking sworn testimony out of court, or the resulting written record of that testimony.

- The lawyer spent the afternoon reading the witness's deposition to look for mistakes.
- During her deposition, the executive was questioned for six hours regarding her knowledge of the company's offshore accounts.

Usage: Often used with the verbs 'give', 'take', or 'read'.

### 2. removing a leader

noun · CEFR C1 · Formal · Academic

the act of removing someone powerful, like a king or a president, from their job or position.

For teachers: the sudden or formal removal of a person from a position of high office or power.

- The deposition of the king led to a long period of peace in the country.
- The sudden deposition of the prime minister by the military council sent shockwaves through the international community.

### 3. natural accumulation

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical · Academic

the natural process where layers of substance, like sand, mud, or chemicals, build up on a surface over time.

For teachers: the act of depositing material by natural or chemical processes, or the layer of material that results from this process.

- The deposition of salt on the car's metal frame caused it to rust quickly.
- Geologists studied the river delta to understand the rate of sediment deposition over the last century.

### 4. gas to solid

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

the process where a gas turns directly into a solid without becoming a liquid first, like when frost forms on a window.

For teachers: the phase transition in which gas transforms into solid without passing through the liquid phase.

- In very cold weather, water vapor turns into ice through deposition.
- The experiment demonstrated deposition by cooling iodine vapor until it formed dark crystals on the glass surface.

### 5. religious art/event

noun · CEFR C2 · Formal · Literary

the scene in Christian art showing Jesus being taken down from the cross.

For teachers: the act of removing Christ from the cross, or a representation of this event in art.

- The museum has a famous painting of the Deposition by a Flemish artist.
- The altarpiece depicts the Deposition with striking emotional intensity, focusing on the grief of the surrounding figures.

Teaching tip: When referring to the specific biblical event or a famous artwork of it, the word is usually capitalized as 'the Deposition'.

## Examples

- Wind deposition built up the sand dunes.
- The lawyer reviewed the deposition before the trial began.
- Geologists studied the riverbed deposition to understand how the landscape changed over thousands of years.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.