• Witness

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ˈwɪt.nÉ™s/, /ˈwɪt.nɪs/

    Origin

    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").

    Full definition of witness

    Noun

    witness

    (plural witnesses)
    1. Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.She can bear witness, since she was there at the time.
      • ShakespeareMay we with ... the witness of a good conscience, pursue him with any further revenge?
    2. One who sees or has personal knowledge of something.As a witness to the event, I can tell you that he really said that.
      • ShakespeareThyself art witness I am betrothed.
      • R. HallUpon my looking round, I was witness to appearances which filled me with melancholy and regret.
    3. Someone called to give evidence in a court.The witness for the prosecution did not seem very credible.
    4. Something that serves as evidence; a sign.
      • Bible, Genesis xxxi. 51, 52Laban said to Jacob, ... This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness.

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. (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
    2. (transitive) To take as evidence.
      • 1993, Vicki M. Pino, Viewpoints from our Readers after "Aprongate": Lighten up, Depression often goes undetected until it is too late . Witness the recent White House suicide.
    3. (transitive) To see or gain knowledge of through experience.He witnessed the accident.
      • R. HallThis is but a faint sketch of the incalculable calamities and horrors we must expect, should we ever witness the triumphs of modern infidelity.
      • MarshallGeneral Washington did not live to witness the restoration of peace.
    4. (intransitive, construed with to or for) To present personal religious testimony; to preach at (someone) or on behalf of.
      • 1998, "Niebuhr, Reinhold", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, volume 6‎, page 842Instead, Niebuhr's God was the God witnessed to in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, the Bible of the Christian world.
    5. To see the execution of (a legal instrument), and subscribe it for the purpose of establishing its authenticity.to witness a bond or a deed

    Synonyms

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