Fifth Amendment

American  

[fifth uh-mend-muhnt, fith] / ˈfɪfθ əˈmɛnd mənt, ˈfɪθ /

noun

1. an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, providing chiefly that people cannot be required to testify against themselves in a criminal case and that no person be subjected to a second trial for an offense for which they have been duly tried previously.

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Fifth Amendment British  

noun

1. an amendment to the US Constitution stating that no person may be compelled to testify against himself and that no person may be tried for a second time on a charge for which he has already been acquitted

2. to refuse to answer a question on the grounds that it might incriminate oneself

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Fifth Amendment Cultural  

1. One of the ten amendments to the United States Constitution that make up the Bill of Rights. The Fifth Amendment imposes restrictions on the government's prosecution of persons accused of crimes. It prohibits self-incrimination and double jeopardy and mandates due process of law.

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To “take the Fifth” is to refuse to testify because the testimony could lead to self-incrimination.

Example Sentences

District Judge Paul Friedman said parts of the policy violated the First and Fifth Amendment rights to free speech and due process.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

Comer, previewing the deposition, said, "her lawyers have been saying she is going to plead the Fifth," referring to the US Fifth Amendment right to decline to speak to authorities.

From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026

“I will plead the Fifth Amendment on that. Although I will say I did hold up a New York Times.”

From Slate • Dec. 23, 2025

Frimpong issued her tentative ruling ahead of the hearing Thursday morning, during which she heard arguments on whether the government was continuing to violate detainees’ Fifth Amendment right to access counsel.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 23, 2025

It ought not to require argument to reject the notion that due process of law meant one thing in the Fifth Amendment and another in the Fourteenth.

From The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952 by Corwin, Edward Samuel