deposition

[ dep-uh-zish-uhn, dee-puh- ]

noun

1. removal from an office or position.
2. the act or process of depositing:

   deposition of the documents with the Library of Congress.

3. the state of being deposited or precipitated:

   deposition of soil at the mouth of a river.

4. something that is deposited.
5. Law.
   1. the giving of testimony under oath.
   2. the testimony so given.
   3. a statement under oath, taken down in writing, to be used in court in place of the spoken testimony of the witness.
6. Ecclesiastical.
   1. the interment of the body of a saint.
   2. the reinterment of the body or the relics of a saint.
7. (initial capital letter) a work of art depicting Christ being lowered from the Cross.

deposition

¹

/ ˌdɛpəˈzɪʃən; ˌdiːpə- /

noun

1. law
   1. the giving of testimony on oath
   2. the testimony so given
   3. the sworn statement of a witness used in court in his absence
2. the act or instance of deposing
3. the act or an instance of depositing
4. something that is deposited; deposit

Deposition

²

/ ˌdɛpəˈzɪʃən; ˌdiːpə- /

noun

1. the taking down of Christ's body from the Cross or a representation of this

deposition

/ dĕp′ə-zĭsh′ən /

1. The accumulation or laying down of matter by a natural process, as the laying down of sediments in a river or the accumulation of mineral deposits in a bodily organ.
2. The process of changing from a gas to a solid without passing through an intermediate liquid phase. Carbon dioxide, at a pressure of one atmosphere, undergoes deposition at about −78 degrees Celsius.
3. Compare sublimation

Other Words From

• depo·sition·al adjective
• postdep·o·sition·al adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of deposition¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin dēpositiōn-, stem of dēpositiō “a putting aside, testimony, burial,” equivalent to Latin dēposit(us) “laid down” ( deposit ) + -iō -ion

Word History and Origins

Origin of deposition¹

C14: from Late Latin dēpositiō a laying down, disposal, burying, testimony

Example Sentences

“WOW,” he wrote on Twitter the morning of February 7, posting side-by-side satellite shots of a dark area of possible “massive dust deposition,” contrasted against the same snowy, pristine region just the day before.

From Science News

The only thing that happened on his side was he had to come to some depositions.

From ProPublica

As part of its investigation, ProPublica obtained years of Evenflo’s testing videos, thousands of pages of sworn depositions by company employees and marketing materials that, until then, had largely been shielded by court secrecy orders.

From ProPublica

It was not mere legal theater when judges appointed commissioners to carry out months of fact-finding, including traveling to obtain witness depositions.

From Washington Post

These are salts that, based on geological, paleontological, and geochemical evidence, haven’t been re-dissolved and re-crystallized since their initial deposition.

From Nautilus

That assertion, given by Shore in a pre-trial deposition, would have been too prejudicial to present to the jury, the court ruled.

From The Daily Beast

Also, at the time of his deposition Thicke had been off of pills for two months, because his wife left him in February.

From The Daily Beast

Evans used a “pressure point control technique,” one of the officers testified in his deposition.

From The Daily Beast

In his infamous deposition video, you can clearly see that the “thug life” façade is stripped away.

From The Daily Beast

A brief bio is to be found in a deposition she gave in the criminal case before the felony charge was dropped.

From The Daily Beast

The last of the criers did not last long after deposition from office, Jacob's last words being uttered in 1881.

From Project Gutenberg

This gain in those parts of the river's curvings where deposition tends to take place may be accelerated by tree-planting.

From Project Gutenberg

He was taken from prison and placed on the throne, on the deposition of his brother, Mahomet, 1687.

From Project Gutenberg

Cuthbert's importunity in the matter is clearly set forth in60 a deposition by Henry Johnson, one of Alleyn's tenants.

From Project Gutenberg

It is on your deposition and on the dates, as I have on the others, but that fact will appear from the record.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• affidavit
• allegation
• announcement
• evidence
• testimony