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📙 Middle School Level

hearsay

[ heer-sey ]
/ ˈhɪərˌseɪ /
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noun
unverified, unofficial information gained or acquired from another and not part of one's direct knowledge: I pay no attention to hearsay.
an item of idle or unverified information or gossip; rumor: a malicious hearsay.
adjective
of, relating to, or characterized by hearsay: hearsay knowledge; a hearsay report.
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Origin of hearsay

1525–35; originally in phrase by hear say, translation of Middle French par ouïr dire
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use hearsay in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for hearsay

📙 Middle School Level
hearsay
/ (ˈhɪəˌseɪ) /

noun
gossip; rumour
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

Cultural definitions for hearsay

📙 Middle School Level
hearsay

Information heard by one person about another. Hearsay is generally inadmissible as evidence in a court of law because it is based on the reports of others rather than on the personal knowledge of a witness.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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