Word
witness
Phoneticswit·ness
US/ˈwɪtnəs/
UK/wˈɪtnəs/
Definitions
01person who sees an event
n. someone who sees an event happen, especially a crime or an accident.
n. an individual who personally observes an event, typically a significant or traumatic occurrence.
“Police are asking any witnesses to the accident to come forward.”
“Several witnesses provided conflicting accounts of the altercation, making it difficult for the investigators to determine who had initiated the violence.”
Synonyms
02legal testimony
n. a person who gives evidence in a court of law.
n. a person called to provide testimony or evidence under oath in a judicial proceeding.
“The witness was nervous as she stood up to answer the lawyer's questions.”
“The prosecution called a surprise witness whose testimony directly contradicted the defendant's alibi for the night in question.”
Synonyms
03official observer
n. someone who watches a formal event, like a wedding or the signing of a document, to prove it happened.
n. a person present at a formal transaction or ceremony to attest to its authenticity.
“You need two witnesses to sign the contract for it to be valid.”
“The solicitor acted as a witness during the signing of the will to ensure all legal requirements were strictly followed.”
Formal
Synonyms
04to see something happen
v. to see something happen with your own eyes.
v. to observe an event or development personally; often used for historical or significant occurrences.
“The city has witnessed many changes over the last fifty years.”
“Few people have witnessed such a dramatic transformation in the local economy within a single generation.”
05to sign a document
v. to watch someone sign a legal document and then sign it yourself to prove it is real.
v. to attest to the genuineness of a signature or document by adding one's own signature as an observer.
“The bank manager witnessed my signature on the loan application.”
“The deed must be witnessed by an independent party who has no financial interest in the property being transferred.”
Formal · Technical
06to show or prove
v. to be a sign or proof of something.
v. to serve as evidence or a clear sign of a particular quality or fact.
“His success witnesses his hard work and dedication to the project.”
“The crumbling ruins witness the former grandeur of an empire that once dominated the entire Mediterranean basin.”
Formal · Literary
Synonyms
Real-World Examples
“An angling club has said a fish kill in a County Down river is the "worst environmental event" it has ever witnessed.” “Some members of the public witnessed the operation in one of the three areas across the farm that the animals were in.” Etymology
From Middle English witnesse, from Old English ġewitnes, equivalent to wit + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”), Icelandic vitni (“witness”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Word family
The word in film
Witness · 1985 · Crime
- Directed by:
- Peter Weir
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover
Director Peter Weir tells the story of a young boy who sees a murder in a train station. Harrison Ford plays a detective who must protect this child because he is the only person who can identify the killer.
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/witness