witness
Other forms: witnesses; witnessed; witnessing
If you're walking down the street and see one car run a red light and plow into another, you are a witness to the accident. You saw it and can tell someone else how the accident happened.
The first part of a witness's role is observation. You witness the accident. The second part is telling someone about it — bearing witness. In court, you can be a witness for the defense or prosecution. You can also witness a legal document, like a will, or a wedding conducted by the justice of the peace. Religious people use this word a lot too: being a witness in that sense is being a true believer who tries to convert others.
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someone who sees an event and reports what happenedtypes:type of:beholder, observer, perceiver, percipienta person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the sensesspeaker, talker, utterer, verbaliser, verbalizersomeone who expresses in language; someone who talks (especially someone who delivers a public speech or someone especially garrulous)
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a close observer; someone who looks at something (such as an exhibition of some kind)types:browsera viewer who looks around casually without seeking anything in particularbystandera nonparticipant spectatorcheerera spectator who shouts encouragementeyewitnessa spectator who can describe what happenedgawkera spectator who stares stupidly without intelligent awarenessoglera viewer who gives a flirtatious or lewd look at another personspya secret watcher; someone who secretly watches other peoplestarera viewer who gazes fixedly (often with hostility)first-nightersomeone habitually a spectator at the openings of theatrical productionsgroundlingin Elizabethan theater, a playgoer in the cheap standing sectiontype of:beholder, observer, perceiver, percipienta person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses
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testimony by word or deed to your religious faith
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(law) a person who attests to the genuineness of a document or signature by adding their own signaturesynonyms: attestant, attestator, attestor
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(law) a person who testifies under oath in a court of lawtypes:adverse witness, hostile witnessa witness whose relationship to the opposing party is such that his or her testimony may be prejudiced against the opposing partycharacter witnessa witness who testifies under oath as to the good reputation of another person in the community where that person livesexpert witnessa witness who has knowledge not normally possessed by the average person concerning the topic that he is to testify aboutlay witnessany witness who does not testify as an expert witnessmaterial witnessa witness whose testimony is both relevant to the matter at issue and required in order to resolve the matter
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be a witness to“She witnessed the accident and had to testify in court”types:eyewitnessbe present at an event and see it with one's own eyestype of:watchlook attentively
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perceive or be contemporaneous with
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Vocabulary lists containing witness
This poem explores the ways individuals learn to cope with uncertainty. Read the full text here.
Learn these words from the news features (Inside: Level C, Unit 3). Here are our links to the selections of "Making a Difference": The Civil Rights Movement, Midway, Martin's Big Words; I Have a Dream, Speaking Up, Speeches on the Little Rock Nine Here are our links to the units of Level C: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8 Here are our links to the Inside books: Level A, Level B, Level C Here is our link to a list of academic vocabulary for Inside: Academic Vocabulary
Two separate stories — the first told in illustrations and the second in prose — combine to create a marvelous whole in this book from the Caldecott-winning author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret.