earwitness

American  

[eer-wit-nis] / ˈɪərˌwɪt nɪs /

noun

Law.

1. a person who testifies or can testify to what they have heard.

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Etymology

Origin of earwitness

First recorded in 1530–40; ear ¹ + witness

Explanation

An earwitness is someone who can give official testimony about something they've heard. If you're on a phone call and hear an argument break out in the background, you could become an earwitness to the disagreement. The word earwitness usually refers to a person who heard something important and is required to talk about what they heard in court. But an earwitness may also just be someone who overheard something, even if it's not legally important. The word earwitness sounds like it might be a play on the more familiar word eyewitness, someone who saw something happen with their own eyes. But in fact, both words were first recorded back in the 1500s.

Example Sentences

Similarly, Bill O'Reilly remained at Fox News after falsely claiming he was an earwitness to the gunshot suicide of Lee Harvey Oswald associate, George de Mohrenschildt.

From Salon • Aug. 5, 2022

It said: “Inconsistent prosecutorial theories, a prosecution that depends on a single ‘earwitness’ identification-and a compensated earwitness at that-and later-expressed prosecutorial doubt about the strength of the case.

From Washington Times • Mar. 10, 2021

It said: “Inconsistent prosecutorial theories, a prosecution that depends on a single ‘earwitness’ identification—and a compensated earwitness at that—and later-expressed prosecutorial doubt about the strength of the case.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 10, 2021

“The officer standing a short distance away gives several warnings, warnings which are again heard by at least one eyewitness, an earwitness, ‘Don’t pick up the gun, don’t pick up the gun.’

From New York Times • Nov. 18, 2015

To give us an earwitness report, Harris tape-recorded many of his talks with student leaders and played them back for us in New York.

From Time Magazine Archive