CROSS-EXAMINATION

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does cross-examination mean? 

• CROSS-EXAMINATION (noun)
  The noun CROSS-EXAMINATION has 1 sense:

1. (law) close questioning of a hostile witness in a court of law to discredit or throw a new light on the testimony already provided in direct examination

  Familiarity information: CROSS-EXAMINATION used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CROSS-EXAMINATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(law) close questioning of a hostile witness in a court of law to discredit or throw a new light on the testimony already provided in direct examination

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("cross-examination" is a kind of...):

examination; interrogation; interrogatory (formal systematic questioning)

Meronyms (parts of "cross-examination"):

cross-question (a question asked in cross-examination)

leading question (a question phrased in such a way as to suggest the desired answer; a lawyer may ask leading questions on cross-examination)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Derivation:

cross examine (question closely, or question a witness that has already been questioned by the opposing side)

 Context examples 

I will not trouble you with any lengthy cross-examination, Professor Coram, since I gather that you were in bed at the time of the crime, and could know nothing about it.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then followed this cross-examination.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)