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English
[edit]WOTD – 4 April 2010, 4 April 2011English Wikipedia has an article on:witnessWikipedia
Alternative forms
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witnesse, witneße(obsolete)
Etymology
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From Middle Englishwitnesse, from Old Englishġewitnes, equivalent to wit + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutchwetenisse(“witness, testimony”), Old High Germangewiznessi(“testimony”), Icelandicvitni(“witness”).
Pronunciation
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IPA(key): /ˈwɪtnəs/, /ˈwɪtnɪs/
Audio (US):
(file)
Audio (General Australian):
(file)
Rhymes: -ɪtnəs, -ɪtnɪs
Hyphenation: wit‧ness
Noun
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witness (countable and uncountable, plural witnesses)
(uncountable) Attestation of a fact or event; testimony. She can bear witness, since she was there at the time.
c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:May we, with the warrant of womanhood and the witness of a good conscience, pursue him with any further revenge?
1959, Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of holy scripture[1], volume 6:We have as much witness from heaven as we need.
1999, Nettie Becker, Paul Becker, A Comprehensive Guide for Caregivers in Day-care Settings[2]:On another corner, stands an old style tenement building, whose dirty grey facade bears as much witness to the volume of exhaust fumes from millions of passing cars as it does to the age of the dwelling.
2002, Charles E. Scott, The Lives of Things[3], page 125:Nor do the formation and articulation of such knowledge themselves bear much witness to Geist.
2008, Jeremiah Burroughs, C. Matthew McMahon, Therese B. McMahon, The Excellency of Holy Courage in Evil Times[4], page 100:Fleeing is giving witness, and those that plead against it are loath to give so much witness
2014, James Tarter, God's Word to the United States: The Book of Obadiah[5]:Ob. 16 can show that every nation will get at least this much witness
(countable) One who sees or has personal knowledge of something. As a witness to the event, I can confirm that he really said that.
c.1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:[…]thyself art witness— I am betrothed.
c.1786, Robert Hall, A Reverie:Upon my looking round, I was a witness to appearances which filled me with melancholy and regret.
(countable, law) Someone called to give evidence in a court. The witness for the prosecution did not seem very credible.
1961 November, “Talking of Trains: Derailment near Holmes Chapel”, in Trains Illustrated, page 652:From the evidence of witnesses and of the recorded passing times, including the time at which the circuit breakers were tripped when the wires were brought down, the train was travelling at a speed of not less than 70 m.p.h.
(countable) 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.
(countable) Something that serves as evidence; a sign or token.
1611, The Holy Bible,[…] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker,[…], →OCLC, Genesis 31:51-52:Laban said to Jacob, […] This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness.
(textual criticism) A particular version of a text (seen as providing testimony of archetype or other earlier version)
2020, Alessandro Bausi, “7.5 Philological practices: Ethiopic”, in Philipp Roelli, editor, Handbook of Stemmatology: History, Methodology, Digital Approaches, De Gruyter, →DOI, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 481:Yet there are extremely few, if any, cases of preserved autographs, and textual witnesses (manuscripts) rather distant in time from the creation of the texts are the norm.
(countable, databases) An additional database server instance used in failover scenarios to decide whether the mirror should take over.
2016, Vlad Catrinescu, Trevor Seward, Deploying SharePoint 2016 (page 350) Automatic failover requires a witness, either a file share or a SQL Server witness (SQL Server Express may be used as a witness).
Russian: свиде́тель (ru)m(svidételʹ), свиде́тельница (ru)f(svidételʹnica)(female), понято́й (ru)m(ponjatój), понята́я (ru)f(ponjatája)(someone who is present at and signs the report of a police search), очеви́дец (ru)m(očevídec)
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked
witness (third-person singular simple present witnesses, present participle witnessing, simple past and past participle witnessed)
(transitive) To furnish proof of, to show. This certificate witnesses his presence on that day.
1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost.[…], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker[…]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter[…]; [a]nd Matthias Walker,[…], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books:[…], London: Basil Montagu Pickering[…], 1873, →OCLC, lines 56-57:round he throws his baleful eyes / That witness'd huge affliction and dismay
(transitive) To take as evidence.
1993, Vicki M. Pino, “Viewpoints from our Readers after "Aprongate": Lighten up”, in Atlanta Journal Constitution:Depression often goes undetected until it is too late . Witness the recent White House suicide.
(transitive) To see or gain knowledge of through experience. He witnessed the accident.
1801, Robert Hall, On Modern Infidelity:This is but a faint sketch of the incalculable calamities and horrors we must expect, should we be so unfortunate as ever to witness the triumph of modern infidelity
1803, John Marshall, The Life of George Washington:General Washington did not live to witness the restoration of peace.
2025 October 1, Richard Evans, “The value of the railway effect”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 58:In 1825, the first public railway carried passengers across the English countryside, setting in motion not just an engineering revolution, but an industrial one too. Imagine the awe and excitement of those first passengers as they boarded the train, unaware that they were witnessing the dawn of a new era.
(intransitive, construed with to or for) To present personal religious testimony; to preach at (someone) or on behalf of.
1998, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, volume 6, "Niebuhr, Reinhold", page 842:Instead, Niebuhr's God was the God witnessed to in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, the Bible of the Christian world.
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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certify
Translations
[edit](transitive) to furnish proof of
Armenian: վկայել (hy)(vkayel), հաստատել (hy)(hastatel)
Spanish: presenciar (es), ser testigo de, ver (es)
Swedish: bevittna (sv)
(intransitive) to preach presenting personal testimony
Catalan: testificar (ca)
Finnish: todistaa (fi)
Hungarian: tanúságot tesz
Spanish: testificar (es)
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked
French: (please verify) témoigner (fr)
Slovene: (please verify) pričati
Anagrams
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wisents
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