perjure

American  

[pur-jer] / ˈpɜr dʒər /

verb (used with object)

• perjures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• perjured,
  past participle,  past
• perjuring
  present participle

1. to render (oneself ) guilty of swearing falsely or of willfully making a false statement under oath or solemn affirmation.

   The witness perjured herself when she denied knowing the defendant.

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perjure British  

/ ˈpɜːdʒə /

verb

1. (tr) criminal law to render (oneself) guilty of perjury

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• perjurement
  noun
• perjurer
  noun
• unperjuring
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• perjuring
  present
• perjured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• perjure
  simple
• perjures
  simple
• have perjured
  perfect
• has perjured
  perfect
• am perjuring
  progressive
• are perjuring
  progressive
• is perjuring
  progressive
• have been perjuring
  perfect progressive
• has been perjuring
  perfect progressive

Past

• perjured
  simple
• had perjured
  perfect
• was perjuring
  progressive
• were perjuring
  progressive
• had been perjuring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will perjure
  simple
• will have perjured
  perfect
• will be perjuring
  progressive
• will have been perjuring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of perjure

First recorded in 1475–85; from Latin perjūrāre “to swear falsely,” from per- “through,” i.e., “beyond the limits” ( see per-) + jūrāre “to swear,” literally, “to be at law” (derivative of jūs jus ¹ ( def. ) )

Explanation

To perjure is to lie after taking an oath in a courtroom to tell the truth. If a witness to a crime deliberately gives false information in front of a judge, they perjure themselves. It's possible to perjure yourself — or commit the crime of perjury — in a written statement or during any other legal transaction that requires you to swear you'll tell the truth. You only perjure yourself, however, if you tell a deliberate lie that affects the outcome of a trial or other legal decision. The Old French source of the word perjure is parjurer, "to break one's word," from the Latin root periurare, "to swear falsely."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

perjure perjures perjured perjuring

“He specifically told me, ‘I don’t want you to perjure yourself, but "I don’t recall" isn’t perjury.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2022

She said the letters were part of a plan by Ms. Toebbe to pressure her husband to perjure himself by falsely saying she knew nothing about the plot.

From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2022

Jones on Tuesday called Bellis a tyrant and said she would be forcing him to perjure himself and say “that I’m guilty and to say that I’m a liar.”

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2022

And she said it was "utterly absurd" to suggest that nine women "could be persuaded to lie to the police, to perjure themselves in court".

From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2021

Haven't I been charged with bribing my constituents to perjure themselves--not to speak of my dodging my taxes, and other sleight-of-hand performances?

From The Joy of Living (Es lebe das Leben) A Play in Five Acts by Hermann Sudermann

He perjures himself in public all the time.

From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2018

Spector’s wife perjures herself to cover for him without knowing the truth.

From Time ● Jan. 26, 2015

But his commander perjures himself, and Carrington's wife, who could save the day, refuses to help.

From Time Magazine Archive

"The man's a spy, an informer, a paid liar, a villain that takes gold and perjures himself."

From The Northern Iron by George A. Birmingham

The man who perjures himself to escape his taxes has no right to expect that his fellow citizens are going to place a higher value upon an oath than he.

From Courts and Criminals by Arthur Cheney Train

In his Soldier F judgement, Judge Lynch said that some of the soldiers had perjured themselves.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2025

Blanche requested that the verdict be thrown out based on the jury’s reliance on the testimony of Michael Cohen, who Blanche claimed perjured himself on the stand, and the request was quickly denied.

From Slate ● May 30, 2024

“The fact that a defendant who lacks credibility and has already been to prison for falsifying business documents may have also perjured himself in this proceeding or the preceding investigation is hardly surprising,” Wallace wrote.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024

"Mr. Kise...my role is to get the witness to testify. If he perjured himself yesterday or he perjured himself today, I don't care. I just want him to testify," the judge said.

From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2023

A review of the other factors set out above does not provide conclusive evidence that the witness, Ralph Meyers, perjured himself at the original trial.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

She echoed calls for the PPS to consider bringing charges against any living soldiers suspected of perjuring themselves in relation to the events of Bloody Sunday.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2025

Paradis has previously accused Feuer of knowing about wrongdoing in the case and has accused the former city attorney of perjuring himself during a 2019 deposition.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2023

Dallas police later filed cases with prosecutors accusing Montenegro of tampering with records and perjuring himself in the investigation.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 24, 2023

She also claimed that Passantino was aware of Hutchinson’s knowledge of Ornato’s story — and that when she expressed concerns to him about lying to investigators, Passantino reassured her that she was not perjuring herself.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 22, 2022

"Excellent!" returned Flint, perjuring himself like a gentleman.

From Flint His Faults, His Friendships and His Fortunes by Maud Wilder Goodwin