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
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
Larry Stewart was found not guilty of perjury.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
The judge said she would declare the case moot if Blanche and Bessent presented a sworn declaration within a week under penalty of perjury that the fund has been abandoned.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
But on January 21, Hiss was convicted of perjury relating to his alleged espionage; he could not be tried as a spy because the five-year statute of limitations had run out.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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
I hope you will sustain me in all my perjuries about 'Tony.'
From Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II by Edmund Downey
Some of the worst abuses of the English law were mitigated by the perjuries of juries who refused to put them in force.
From The Map of Life Conduct and Character by William Edward Hartpole Lecky
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.
