WITNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does witness mean? 

• WITNESS (noun)
  The noun WITNESS has 5 senses:

1. someone who sees an event and reports what happened

2. a close observer; someone who looks at something (such as an exhibition of some kind)

3. testimony by word or deed to your religious faith

4. (law) a person who attests to the genuineness of a document or signature by adding their own signature

5. (law) a person who testifies under oath in a court of law

  Familiarity information: WITNESS used as a noun is common.

• WITNESS (verb)
  The verb WITNESS has 2 senses:

1. be a witness to

2. perceive or be contemporaneous with

  Familiarity information: WITNESS used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WITNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who sees an event and reports what happened

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

informant; witness; witnesser

Hypernyms ("witness" is a kind of...):

beholder; observer; perceiver; percipient (a person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses)

speaker; talker; utterer; verbaliser; verbalizer (someone who expresses in language; someone who talks (especially someone who delivers a public speech or someone especially garrulous))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "witness"):

attestant; attester (someone who affirms or vouches for the correctness or truth or genuineness of something)

deponent; deposer; testifier (a person who testifies or gives a deposition)

Derivation:

witness (be a witness to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A close observer; someone who looks at something (such as an exhibition of some kind)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

looker; spectator; viewer; watcher; witness

Context example:

sky watchers discovered a new star

Hypernyms ("witness" is a kind of...):

beholder; observer; perceiver; percipient (a person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "witness"):

browser (a viewer who looks around casually without seeking anything in particular)

peeper; Peeping Tom; voyeur (a viewer who enjoys seeing the sex acts or sex organs of others)

starer (a viewer who gazes fixedly (often with hostility))

spy (a secret watcher; someone who secretly watches other people)

rubberneck; rubbernecker (a person who stares inquisitively)

playgoer; theatergoer; theatregoer (someone who attends the theater)

looker-on; onlooker (someone who looks on)

ogler (a viewer who gives a flirtatious or lewd look at another person)

motion-picture fan; moviegoer (someone who goes to see movies)

gawker (a spectator who stares stupidly without intelligent awareness)

eyewitness (a spectator who can describe what happened)

cheerer (a spectator who shouts encouragement)

bystander (a nonparticipant spectator)

Derivation:

witness (perceive or be contemporaneous with)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Testimony by word or deed to your religious faith

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("witness" is a kind of...):

testimony (a solemn statement made under oath)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "witness"):

shahadah (the first pillar of Islam is an affirmation of faith)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(law) a person who attests to the genuineness of a document or signature by adding their own signature

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

attestant; attestator; attestor; witness

Hypernyms ("witness" is a kind of...):

signatory; signer (someone who signs and is bound by a document)

Domain category:

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

Derivation:

witness (be a witness to)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(law) a person who testifies under oath in a court of law

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("witness" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Domain category:

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

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "witness"):

adverse witness; hostile witness (a witness whose relationship to the opposing party is such that his or her testimony may be prejudiced against the opposing party)

character witness (a witness who testifies under oath as to the good reputation of another person in the community where that person lives)

expert witness (a witness who has knowledge not normally possessed by the average person concerning the topic that he is to testify about)

lay witness (any witness who does not testify as an expert witness)

material witness (a witness whose testimony is both relevant to the matter at issue and required in order to resolve the matter)

Derivation:

witness (be a witness to)

• WITNESS (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they witness    ... he / she / it witnesses   
Past simple: witnessed   
Past participle: witnessed   
-ing form: witnessing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be a witness to

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

She witnessed the accident and had to testify in court

Hypernyms (to "witness" is one way to...):

watch (look attentively)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "witness"):

eyewitness (be present at an event and see it with one's own eyes)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

witness (someone who sees an event and reports what happened)

witness ((law) a person who attests to the genuineness of a document or signature by adding their own signature)

witness ((law) a person who testifies under oath in a court of law)

witnesser (someone who sees an event and reports what happened)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Perceive or be contemporaneous with

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

find; see; witness

Context example:

I want to see results

Hypernyms (to "witness" is one way to...):

experience; go through; see (undergo or live through a difficult experience)

Verb group:

discover; find out; get a line; get wind; get word; hear; learn; pick up; see (get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally)

find (perceive oneself to be in a certain condition or place)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "witness"):

catch (become aware of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

witness (a close observer; someone who looks at something (such as an exhibition of some kind))

 Context examples 

Witness: I should prefer not to answer.

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

Only that there is an important witness whom you have not seen.

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

But the beating! It was quite similar to the one I had witnessed in the cabin.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A majority of the men who had witnessed the making of the bet decided in his favor, whereat the odds went up to three to one against Buck.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Witness myself, at this present hour.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She could only compare Mr Elliot to Lady Russell, in the wish of really comprehending what had passed, and in the degree of concern for what she must have suffered in witnessing it.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I witnessed, and several more witnessed, Mr. Rochester ascend through the sky-light on to the roof; we heard him call 'Bertha!'

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mr. Kirwin charged himself with every care of collecting witnesses and arranging my defence.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Back to back, says I. You save your witness, and he'll save your neck!

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But what was he to witness?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)