Meaning of witness in English

witness

noun [ C ]

/ˈwɪt.nəs/ us

/ˈwɪt.nəs/

witness noun [C] (SEE)

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a person who sees an event happening, especially a crime or an accident:

witness to Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident to come forward.

(eye) witness According to (eye) witnesses, the robbery was carried out by two teenage boys.

be witness to something

to see something happen:

She was witness to the tragic event.

someone who is asked to be present at a particular event and sign their name in order to prove that things have been done correctly:

He signed the treaty in the presence of two witnesses.

They were married a year after they first met, with two friends acting as witnesses.

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If you haven't got a witness, you haven't got a leg to stand on.
One by one the witnesses narrated the sequence of events which led up to the disaster.
The document was signed in the presence of two witnesses.
New witnesses have cast doubt on some of the evidence that sent the 19 year old to the gallows.
She bore witness to his patience and diligence.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Using the eyes

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witness noun [C] (LAW)

a person in a law court who says what they know about a legal case or a particular person:

Ten witnesses are expected to testify at the trial today.

key witness for The key witness for the prosecution was offered police protection after she received death threats.

expert witness

a person who is allowed to give their opinion in a law court because of their knowledge or practical experience of a particular subject:

A psychiatrist was called as an expert witness for the defence.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

People appearing in court

Idiom

bear witness (to something)

witness

verb [ T ]

/ˈwɪt.nəs/ us

/ˈwɪt.nəs/

witness verb [T] (BE PRESENT)

to see something happen, especially an accident or crime:

Did anyone witness the attack?

They were staying in the capital at the time of the riots and witnessed several street battles.

[ + -ing verb ] He arrived home just in time to witness his brother being taken away by the police.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to see something

seeI can see for miles from up here.
noticeI noticed a crack in the ceiling.
perceiveBill perceived a tiny figure in the distance.
observeA teacher observed her climbing over the gate.
spotWe managed to spot a leopard.
catch sight ofWe looked for the bird and caught sight of it just as it flew off.

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to be present at an event and to sign your name as proof that it happened or that it was done correctly:

Her will was witnessed by two colleagues.

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I've never witnessed such extremes of wealth and poverty.
Recent years have witnessed a growth in religious fundamentalism.
What we are witnessing is the country's slow slide into anarchy.
His face registered extreme disapproval of what he had witnessed.
It was a terrible thing to witness.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Using the eyes

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Signing & signatures

witness verb [T] (HAPPEN)

formal

When a place or period witnesses a particular event, the event happens in that place or during that period:

This university has witnessed quite a few changes over the years.

Those years witnessed momentous changes throughout Europe.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Experiencing and suffering

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witness verb [T] (SHOW)

to show or give proof of something:

as witnessed by This year's charity ball was the most successful one ever, as witnessed by the number of tickets sold.

The programme aroused strong feelings - witness the number of letters received.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Showing and demonstrating

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Proving and disproving

Phrasal verb

witness to something

(Definition of witness from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

witness | American Dictionary

witness

noun

/ˈwɪt·nəs/

witness noun (PERSON WHO SEES)

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[ C/U ]

a person who sees an event happening, esp. a crime or an accident:

[ C ] According to witnesses, the car used in the robbery was a green van with Pennsylvania license plates.

[ C/U ]

Someone who is witness to something sees it:

[ U ] She was witness to the tragic event.

[ C/U ]

If you are a witness, you are asked to be present at a particular event and to sign (= write your name on) a document in order to prove that things have been done correctly:

[ C ] The will has to be signed by two witnesses.

witness noun (PERSON IN COURT)

[ C ]

a person in a law court who promises to tell the truth and answers questions about something that was seen or is known:

defense/prosecution witnesses

Five witnesses are expected to testify at the trial today.

Idiom

bear witness to something

witness

verb [ T ]

/ˈwɪt·nəs/

witness verb [T] (BE THE PERSON WHO SEES)

to see something happen:

We were there at the time and witnessed the accident.

The university has witnessed (= experienced) quite a few changes over the years.

Witness also means to show or give proof of something:

The program aroused strong feelings, as witnessed by the number of letters the station received.

Rock music is becoming a health problem – witness the loss of hearing (= for proof, look at the loss of hearing) in some of our youth.

If you are asked to witness an event, you are asked to be present at it and sign your name to prove that things have been done correctly.

(Definition of witness from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

witness | Business English

witness

noun [ C ]

LAW

/ˈwɪtnəs/ us

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someone who gives information in a court of law about a particular person or event, usually when there has been a crime or an accident:

witness for the defence/prosecution The key witness for the prosecution was given police protection.

act as/appear as/be called as a witness Doctors confirmed that he was not fit to be called as a witness in the trial.

The police are appealing for witnesses.

a credible/material witness

a witness account/statement

someone who signs an official document to prove that an event has happened or that someone is who they say they are:

He signed the treaty in the presence of six witnesses.

Examples of witness

witness

As a matter of principle, it was the spouses who were supposed to bring forward the witnesses to their nuptials.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, something extremely unlikely happens : those who witness the event do not wonder at it at all.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He visited rural villages and witnessed how the different groups lived in close proximity to one another.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The passages might even be seen - despite their preservation as written texts - to provide a unique witness to the improvisatory practices of oral poets.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, the eighteenth century witnessed neither an economic nor a monetary crisis.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

I align with the latter view - history has witnessed the flourishing of many normative systems we now find dubious or even paradigmatically unacceptable.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The defence attacks the second witness claim by pointing out the corroborative evidence that the witness is biased (17).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Cases and controls were similar on all demographic variables, school performance, number of attacks witnessed and psychopathology before the onset of the epidemic.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Those that had witnessed a corrupt act also expressed more willingness to take part in political activism.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These committed essays, of course, bear witness to important issues, even if they do not always illuminate them.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

First, the re-opening of the site promises all the sensational imagery witnessed in the 1960s with improved archaeological technologies of the 1990s.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As the articles in this issue bear witness, such refined description of specific cases is already underway.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The end of the millennium would witness the twilight of the social model and its institutional manifestation, the welfare state.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The most plausible explanation for our -ic and -ical pickle is that we are witnessing language change at work: a messy but fascinating business.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This did not stop attempts to suppress it, and the opening two decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a succession of libel actions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with witness

witness

These are words often used in combination with witness.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

alibi witness

If not, then his theory as applied to alibis will not produce bizarre results very often, only when the alibi witness is a stranger or hostile to the defendant.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

character witness

I shall be prepared to attend court as a character witness for him.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

credible witness

For instance, is one credible witness to a crime sufficient to convict?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with witness

What is the pronunciation of witness?

Translations of witness

in Chinese (Traditional)

看見, （尤指犯罪或事故的）目擊者, 見證人…

in Chinese (Simplified)

看见, （尤指犯罪或事故的）目击者, 见证人…

in Spanish

testigo, presenciar, testigo [masculine-feminine…

in Portuguese

testemunha, ser testemunha de, presenciar…

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साक्षीदार, गुन्हा वा अपघात घडताना पाहणारी व्यक्ती, विशिष्ट प्रसंगी उपस्थित राहून सर्व व्यवस्थित झाले आहे याचा पुरावा म्हणून नावानिशी स्वतःची सही करणारा…

目撃者, ～を目撃する, 目撃者（もくげきしゃ）…

tanık, şahit, şahitlik…

témoin [masculine], être témoin de, servir de témoin…

testimoni, presenciar…

getuige, getuige zijn van, als getuige ondertekenen…

ஒரு நிகழ்வு நடப்பதைக் காணும் ஒரு நபர், குறிப்பாக ஒரு குற்றம் அல்லது விபத்து, ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட நிகழ்வில் கலந்துகொண்டு…