eyewitness
Americannoun
-
eyewitnesses
plural
verb (used with object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of eyewitness
Explanation
An eyewitness is an observer who's seen something clearly enough to describe it. If you're an eyewitness to a car accident, the police might want to ask you exactly what you saw. An eyewitness is valuable to crime investigators because she has seen the incident happen with her own eyes. You could also be an eyewitness to something less serious, like a boy being mean to his younger brother when he thinks no one is watching, or a woman throwing her soda can on the ground. While a witness may have valuable information about something, an eyewitness is even more important because he has actually seen — or witnessed — the event in question.
Vocabulary lists containing eyewitness
myPerspectives 9.3
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Ungifted
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Slave Trade" and "Abolition"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
An eyewitness described seeing the man wearing headphones and "pacing around" near the enclosure before he went in and was attacked.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Abdullah, a local eyewitness, told Reuters news agency the strikes happened around midnight.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Travis, the getaway driver, did, however; his eyewitness account was arguably the most damaging.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Faulty eyewitness accounts have contributed to more than 700 known wrongful convictions in the U.S. since 1989, according to data from the National Registry of Exonerations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
It was a place for tourists to engage with the geologic history of the mountain, hear eyewitness accounts of the eruption, and act as a gateway to hiking trails.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
In Davis’s self-published memoir from 2019, he wrote, “I’m one of the only living eyewitnesses to Tupac’s killing.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Some survivors of the deadly floods on the Nepal-China border ran for their lives, others narrowly missed disaster, but all were eyewitnesses to a major calamity and its aftermath.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Tooson said there are no eyewitnesses to the shooting and Porter’s death was not captured on video.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Videos shared by eyewitnesses showed the bus badly damaged, as local residents rushed to help the injured children.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
He writes to Harlow for information and urges the Vermont doctor to back up his case by collecting formal statements from eyewitnesses in Cavendish.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
