witness

Forms

1.Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.
- We have as much witness from heaven as we need.
- She can bear witness, since she was there at the time.
- Nor do the formation and articulation of such knowledge themselves bear much witness to Geist.
2.One who sees or has personal knowledge of something.
- As a witness to the event, I can confirm that he really said that.
- Upon my looking round, I was a 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.One who is called upon to witness an event or action, such as a wedding or the signing of a document.
- The bridesmaid and best man at a wedding typically serve as the witnesses.

1.To furnish proof of, to show.
- This certificate witnesses his presence on that day.
2.To take as evidence.
- Depression often goes undetected until it is too late . Witness the recent White House suicide.
3.To see or gain knowledge of through experience.
- General Washington did not live to witness the restoration of peace.
4.To present personal religious testimony; to preach at (someone) or on behalf of.
- Instead, Niebuhr's God was the God witnessed to in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, the Bible of the Christian world.

Common· #1987

From Middle English witnesse, from Old English ġewitnes, equivalent to wit + -ness.

Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”), Icelandic vitni (“witness”).