attest
Americanverb (used with object)
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attests,
present (3rd person singular)
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attested,
past participle, past
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attesting
present participle
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to bear witness to; certify; declare to be correct, true, or genuine; declare the truth of, in words or writing, especially to affirm in an official capacity.
to attest the truth of a statement.
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to give proof or evidence of; manifest.
His works attest his industry.
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Linguistics. to give evidence of the existence of (a word, phrase, usage, etc.), especially in writing: The dictionary attests this meaning as early as 1890.
The plural form is attested in ancient texts.
The dictionary attests this meaning as early as 1890.
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to put on oath.
verb (used without object)
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attests,
present (3rd person singular)
-
attested,
past participle, past
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attesting
present participle
noun
verb
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(tr) to affirm the correctness or truth of
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to witness (an act, event, etc) or bear witness to (an act, event, etc) as by signature or oath
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(tr) to make evident; demonstrate
his life of luxury attests his wealth
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(tr) to provide evidence for
the marks in the ground attested the presence of a fossil
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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attestantnoun
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attestationnoun
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attestatornoun
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attesternoun
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attestornoun
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reattestverb (used with object)
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attestableadjective
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attestiveadjective
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unattestedadjective
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well-attestedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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attestsimple
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attestssimple
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have attestedperfect
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has attestedperfect
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am attestingprogressive
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are attestingprogressive
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is attestingprogressive
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have been attestingperfect progressive
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has been attestingperfect progressive
Past
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attestedsimple
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had attestedperfect
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was attestingprogressive
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were attestingprogressive
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had been attestingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of attest
First recorded in 1590–1600; < Middle French attester, from Latin attestārī “to bear witness to, affirm, confirm” equivalent to at- at- + testārī “to witness” ( see testis ( def. ))
Explanation
To attest is to prove or declare to be true. For example: the fact that you aced the SAT attests to the strength of your vocabulary. Attest and testify come from the same Latin word testari, which means "to declare." Although both words are kind of formal, you often testify in a courtroom, but attest doesn't require a court of law to function. You can attest to anything — that the funny looking shoes toned your thighs, that what someone says is true, or that the new acne medicine really works. To remember it, think of when you pass a test, you attest that you know the material.
Vocabulary lists containing attest
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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Posted
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The Ancient Period, Before 600 BCE
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
None of this is bad on its own, as millions of Sims fans can attest.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
I can attest that few things bring the vibe of a fun sporting event down quite like a nearly dead phone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Alexander said California law requires registering voters to prove and attest to their identity and has multiple verification measures to ensure people casting ballots are who they say they are.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
As a condition of being tax-exempt, nonprofit private schools must attest that they won’t discriminate based on race, color, or national or ethnic origin.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
Where this has been done, the beetle populations have been kept at relatively low levels, as many records attest.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Shew said he’s only supposed to be given registrations to process if the would-be voter attests they are a U.S. citizen, as federal law requires.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
Jean has two personalities, he attests: “the peaceful one here, and the bonkers one onstage.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
"Belen Garijo's brilliant international career attests to her strategic vision and her ability to drive profound and value-creating transformations," board chairman Frederic Oudea said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
This anthology of verse from its pages attests to the excellent judgment of its previous editors and to that of Walt Hunter, the Atlantic’s current poetry editor, himself a distinguished poet-critic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
Gorgias’s brother Herodicus is a doctor, and the former attests that when trying to persuade a patient to submit to a course of treatment, his oratory is far more effective than his brother’s medical expertise.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
De Kooning’s refusal to settle for a single approach is attested to by a series of cartoon-like standing figures, repeated by means of transfer techniques, that recalls those earlier efforts at illustration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Greenspan, in a 1985 letter to regulators and in testimony to Congress, attested to Lincoln’s financial strength and the prudence of its lending program.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
The brilliance of “Point Blank” is attested to in the Criterion edition, which features, among other supplemental material, a fascinating commentary track with Mr. Boorman and Steven Soderbergh.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
In court, lawyers for the department attested that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection rigorously adhered to this standard.
From Slate ● Feb. 18, 2026
The willingness of the two universities to share Robert Oppenheimer attested to the scarcity of qualified theoretical physicists in American academia, especially theoreticians of Oppenheimer’s distinction.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
A medical letter attesting to your mother’s health might help.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
"Then, the video attesting to the truth would be shown," she says.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2026
He showed me a text message from a senior producer attesting to that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2026
Just seven weeks later, he got another mortgage for a seven-bedroom, marble-floored neighboring property, attesting that it too would be his principal residence.
From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2025
Records attesting to his death were pullulating like insect eggs and verifying each other beyond all contendon.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
