eyewitness

[noun ahy-wit-nis, ahy-wit-nis; verb ahy-wit-nis]

See more synonyms for eyewitness on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

verb (used with object)

to view with one's own eyes: to eyewitness a murder.

Origin of eyewitness

First recorded in 1530–40; eye + witness

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for eyewitness

Contemporary Examples

Obama said, through laughter, according to an eyewitness report of the meeting in The Telegraph.
When Your Royalty Met Ours: Kate Meets Bey Courtside
Tom Sykes
December 9, 2014
Mr Obama said, through laughter, according to an eyewitness report of the meeting in The Telegraph.
Kate Middleton and Prince William's $2m Dinner
Tom Sykes
December 8, 2014
One eyewitness reported seeing the police force students out of another bus at gunpoint.
Anatomy of a Mexican Student Massacre
Jason McGahan
October 8, 2014
With them go our only eyewitness accounts of the real effects of nuclear war.
Truman’s Grandson & Japan’s A-Bomb Survivors: A Story of Reconciliation
Clifton Truman Daniel
August 5, 2014
Their hub is an aggregate of photographs and eyewitness reports taken by hundreds of collectives.
Brazil’s World Cup Is An Expensive, Exploitative Nightmare
Vac Verikaitis
May 30, 2014

Historical Examples

General Hamley, an eyewitness, says "some four or five minutes."
Camps, Quarters and Casual Places
Archibald Forbes
His could only be the impressions of an eyewitness in an orbit limited to his Brigade.
With Manchesters in the East
Gerald B. Hurst
From beginning to end the scene was one which no eyewitness ever could forget.
The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa
Paul Barron Watson
But at length I was eyewitness of an episode that explained the puzzle.
Wild Animals at Home
Ernest Thompson Seton
There was a glorious crash coming, and for his part he meant to be an eyewitness.
The Best Short Stories of 1919
Various

British Dictionary definitions for eyewitness

eyewitness

noun

1. a person present at an event who can describe what happened
2. (as modifier)an eyewitness account

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for eyewitness

n.

1530s, from eye (n.) + witness (n.). As a verb from 1844. Related: Eyewitnessed; eyewitnessing.

eyewitness

Origin of .css-1fxfie5{font-size:22px;}@media (max-width:768px){.css-1fxfie5{font-size:18px;margin:0 10px 10px 0;word-break:break-all;word-wrap:break-word;-webkit-hyphens:auto;-moz-hyphens:auto;-ms-hyphens:auto;hyphens:auto;line-height:22px;}}eyewitness

Examples from the Web for eyewitness

Contemporary Examples

Obama said, through laughter, according to an eyewitness report of the meeting in The Telegraph.

Mr Obama said, through laughter, according to an eyewitness report of the meeting in The Telegraph.

One eyewitness reported seeing the police force students out of another bus at gunpoint.

With them go our only eyewitness accounts of the real effects of nuclear war.

Their hub is an aggregate of photographs and eyewitness reports taken by hundreds of collectives.

Historical Examples

General Hamley, an eyewitness, says "some four or five minutes."

His could only be the impressions of an eyewitness in an orbit limited to his Brigade.

From beginning to end the scene was one which no eyewitness ever could forget.

But at length I was eyewitness of an episode that explained the puzzle.

There was a glorious crash coming, and for his part he meant to be an eyewitness.

eyewitness

Word Origin and History for eyewitness

n.

Origin of eyewitness