witness

[[t]wɪ̱tnəs[/t]]

♦♦♦

witnesses, witnessing, witnessed

1) N-COUNT: oft N to n A witness to an event such as an accident or crime is a person who saw it.

Witnesses to the crash say they saw an explosion just before the disaster...

No witnesses have come forward.

Syn:

eye-witness

2) VERB If you witness something, you see it happen.

[V n] Anyone who witnessed the attack should call the police...

[V n] It was the quickest swimming lesson I'd ever witnessed.

Syn:

see

3) N-COUNT: oft N for n A witness is someone who appears in a court of law to say what they know about a crime or other event.

In the next three or four days, eleven witnesses will be called to testify.

4) N-COUNT A witness is someone who writes their name on a document that you have signed, to confirm that it really is your signature.

5) VERB If someone witnesses your signature on a document, they write their name after it, to confirm that it really is your signature.

[V n] Ask a friend, (not your spouse), to witness your signature.

6) VERB If you say that a place, period of time, or person witnessed a particular event or change, you mean that it happened in that place, during that period of time, or while that person was alive.

[V n] India has witnessed many political changes in recent years...

[V n] The year 1886 witnessed the first extended translation into English of the writings of Eliphas Levi...

[V n] At present, we are witnessing another building boom.

Syn:

see

7) VERB: only imper You use witness to introduce an example of what you have just been talking about. [FORMAL]

[V n] Americans are a generous people: witness the increase in charitable giving, even during the recession.

8) PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n If you are witness to something, you see it happen. [FORMAL]

Too often children are witness to a disturbing amount of violence.

9) PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n If a person or thing bears witness to something, they show or say that it exists or happened. [FORMAL]

Many of these poems bear witness to his years spent in India, England, California and China...

Many veterans believe it is their job to bear witness to the horrors of war that they personally experienced.

Syn:

testify