perjury
Americannoun
-
perjuries
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of perjury
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English perjurie, from Anglo-French, from Latin perjūrium, from perjūr(us) “swearing falsely” ( see perjure) + -ium -ium; replacing parjure, from Old French, from Latin, as above
Explanation
Perjury is the act of deliberately lying under oath. A defendant in a murder trial commits perjury when he swears he never met the murder victim before, even though he had a two-year relationship with her. Although the word perjury contains jury, members of the jury aren't likely to commit perjury, because they're not under oath and haven't sworn to be truthful. A witness in a trial can commit perjury by willfully lying about facts related to the case. Perjury isn't just a little white lie. It's a crime that can land the person who commits it in jail.
Vocabulary lists containing perjury
The Crucible
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You Be the Judge: Jud, Jur, Jus
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A Web of Lies
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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:
“First, the possibility that he might say something false and be prosecutable for perjury under federal law. Second, possibility that something he said might conceivably be used by some state government to prosecute him criminally.”
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
His decision to plead the Fifth, according to people familiar with his legal strategy, was designed in part to avoid what his legal team believed was a perjury trap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Telling a federal judge the same kind of thing carries the threat of disbarment and perjury charges, and no amount of bravado previously reserved for on-air broadcasts could change that math.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
Supporters highlight that current law already demands voters attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury, and they contend that constitutional amendments like Prop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Soon after the grand jury proceedings began, in early January, one of Hale’s cronies—a pastor—was charged with committing perjury on the stand.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
This, Denery points out, gave liars some flexibility: They could perhaps justify their perjuries with a crop of favorable outcomes—not just for their neighbors, but for themselves too.
From Slate ● Feb. 6, 2015
The defense drew from Cook the admission that he had not been indicted for any of his perjuries.
From Time Magazine Archive
Several little harmless perjuries make an airtight case for the prosecution.
From Time Magazine Archive
"No doubt he has made her swear an oath, but we all know how the gods regard the perjuries of lovers," said the Serjeant.
From Lady Anna by Anthony Trollope
And how the sceptres witness whence they got Their briar-wood, crackling through the atmosphere’s Foul smoke, by princely perjuries, kept hot?
From The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume IV by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Definitions 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.
