witness
pronunciation
How to pronounce witness in British English:
UK [ˈwɪtnəs]
How to pronounce witness in American English:
US [ˈwɪtnəs]
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- Noun:
- someone who sees an event and reports what happened
- a close observer; someone who looks at something (such as an exhibition of some kind)
- testimony by word or deed to your religious faith
- (law) a person who attests to the genuineness of a document or signature by adding their own signature
- (law) a person who testifies under oath in a court of law
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- Verb:
- be a witness to
- perceive or be contemporaneous with
Word Origin
- witness
- witness: [OE] Witness originally meant ‘knowledge’ or ‘wisdom’; it was simply an abstract noun formed from wit. This was extended via ‘knowledge gained by observation’ to ‘testimony’ in the Old English period, and by the beginning of the Middle English period ‘person who gives testimony’ was well established.=> wit
- witness (n.)
- Old English witnes "attestation of fact, event, etc., from personal knowledge;" also "one who so testifies;" originally "knowledge, wit," formed from wit (n.) + -ness. Christian use (late 14c.) is as a literal translation of Greek martys (see martyr). Witness stand is recorded from 1853.
- witness (v.)
- c. 1300, "bear testimony," from witness (n.). Meaning "affix one's signature to (a document) to establish its identity" is from early 14c. Meaning "see or know by personal presence, observe" is from 1580s. Related: Witnessed; witnessing.
Example
- 1. A judge cannot be witness in his own cause .
- 2. We bear witness to ourselves in mirrors .
- 3. One witness reported iranian pilgrims were among the casualties .
- 4. I 'm really terrified to witness the slaughter .
- 5. I 'd rather address the tomb as a historic witness than a nameless destination .