witness
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Middle English witnesse, from Old English witnes (“knowledge, witness, testimony, a witness”), equivalent to wit + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”).
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
witness (plural witnesses)
- Attestation of a fact or event; the quality of witting something.
- She can bear witness, since she was there at the time.
- One who has a personal knowledge of something.
- As a witness to the event, I can tell you that he really said that.
- Someone called to give evidence in a court.
- The witness for the prosecution did not seem very credible.
- Something that serves as evidence; a sign.
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
attestation of a fact or event
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one who has a personal knowledge of something
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someone called to give evidence in a court
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something that serves as evidence
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb [edit]
witness (third-person singular simple present witnesses, present participle witnessing, simple past and past participle witnessed)
- (transitive) To furnish proof of, to show.
- This certificate witnesses his presence on that day.
- 1667: round he throws his baleful eyes / That witness'd huge affliction and dismay — John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1 ll. 56-7
- (transitive) To take as evidence.
- 1993, Vicki M. Pino, “Viewpoints from our Readers after "Aprongate": Lighten up”, Atlanta Journal Constitution:
- Depression often goes undetected until it is too late . Witness the recent White House suicide.
- 1993, Vicki M. Pino, “Viewpoints from our Readers after "Aprongate": Lighten up”, Atlanta Journal Constitution:
- (transitive) To see, note, or gain knowledge of.
- He witnessed the accident.
- (intransitive, construed with to or for) To present personal religious testimony; to preach at (someone) or on behalf of.
- "I don't really want to be actively harrassed (I mean witnessed to) (...)"[1]
- 1998, "Niebuhr, Reinhold", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, volume 6, page 842
- Instead, Niebuhr's God was the God witnessed to in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, the Bible of the Christian world.
Synonyms [edit]
Translations [edit]
(transitive) to furnish proof of
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(transitive) to take as evidence
(transitive) to gain knowledge of
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
