eyewitness

American  

[ahy-wit-nis, ahy-wit-nis, ahy-wit-nis] / ˈaɪˌwɪt nɪs, ˈaɪˈwɪt nɪs, ˈaɪˌwɪt nɪs /

noun

eyewitnesses plural

1. a person who actually sees some act, occurrence, or thing and can give a firsthand account of it.

   There were two eyewitnesses to the murder.

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verb (used with object)

1. to view with one's own eyes.

   to eyewitness a murder.

eyewitness British  

/ ˈaɪˌwɪtnɪs /

noun

1. 1. a person present at an event who can describe what happened

   2. ( as modifier )

      an eyewitness account

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• eyewitnesses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of eyewitness

First recorded in 1530–40; eye + witness

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.

Related Words

• bystander
• observer
• witness