testator
Americannoun
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a person who makes a will.
-
a person who has died leaving a valid will.
noun
Etymology
Origin of testator
1275–1325; < Latin testātor; see testate, -tor; replacing Middle English testatour < Anglo-French
Explanation
When you make your last will and testament, you are the testator, and if the will is written and witnessed according to the law of the land, your estate will be divided in the way you, the testator, requested. The noun testator comes from the Latin verb testari, meaning “make a will,” “be witness,” or “declare.” Perhaps your aunt, as testator of her will, indicated that she wanted you to inherit her collection of garden statuettes to keep her daughter from “smashing them to bits and heaving them in the dump.”
Vocabulary lists containing testator
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Society and Solitude
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Democracy in America, Volume II
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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.
The wording of a will can also be problematic as words and terms have specific meanings in law, which may be different to their use by the testator in their will.
From BBC • Aug. 22, 2013
It would therefore place itself in the "armchair" of the testator and consider the circumstances that surrounded them when they made their will, to assist arriving at their intention.
From BBC • Aug. 22, 2013
With it the testator was associated from 1865 until last spring, when he died.
From Time Magazine Archive
The testator went on to say that Stephen Wilkes had acted as his legal adviser for many years, and to express a strong wish that he would continue in that capacity for his daughter.
From A Master of Deception by Marsh, Richard
This philanthropic endowment has not been suffered to decay with the romance of olden time, but the charitable intentions of the testator are fulfilled so as to exhibit a lasting record of his active benevolence.
From Curiosities of Great Britain: England and Wales Delineated Vol.1-11 Historical, Entertaining & Commercial; Alphabetically Arranged. 11 Volume set. by Dugdale, Thomas Cantrell
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.
