witness

American  

[wit-nis] / ˈwɪt nɪs /

verb (used with object)

• witnesses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• witnessed,
  past participle,  past
• witnessing
  present participle

1. 

   to see, hear, or know by personal presence and perception.

   to witness an accident.

   Synonyms:

   note, notice, mark, watch, perceive

2. to be present at (an occurrence) as a formal witness, spectator, bystander, etc..

   She witnessed our wedding.

3. to bear witness to; testify to; give or afford evidence of.

4. to attest by one's signature.

   He witnessed her will.

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verb (used without object)

• witnesses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• witnessed,
  past participle,  past
• witnessing
  present participle

1. to bear witness; testify; give or afford evidence.

noun

• witnesses
  plural

1. an individual who, being present, personally sees or perceives a thing; a beholder, spectator, or eyewitness.

2. a person or thing that affords evidence.

3. a person who gives testimony, as in a court of law.

4. a person who signs a document attesting the genuineness of its execution.

5. testimony or evidence.

   to bear witness to her suffering.

   Synonyms:

   substantiation, confirmation, proof

6. (initial capital letter) a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

witness British  

/ ˈwɪtnɪs /

noun

1. a person who has seen or can give first-hand evidence of some event

2. a person or thing giving or serving as evidence

3. a person who testifies, esp in a court of law, to events or facts within his own knowledge

4. a person who attests to the genuineness of a document, signature, etc, by adding his own signature

5. 1. to give written or oral testimony

   2. to be evidence or proof of

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verb

1. (tr) to see, be present at, or know at first hand

2. to give or serve as evidence (of)

3. (tr) to be the scene or setting of

   this field has witnessed a battle

4. (intr) to testify, esp in a court of law, to events within a person's own knowledge

5. (tr) to attest to the genuineness of (a document, signature, etc) by adding one's own signature

Usage

What does witness mean? A witness is someone who was present at or perceives an incident, event, or occurrence, as in Jamal was a witness to the fact that I completed all my homework. People who witness something typically do so through seeing, although they can also witness a smell or sound. In order to witness an event, one must simply be present at the time the event happened, even if the witness was not directly involved. To witness something is to see, hear, sense, or know something, as in I witnessed our dog running out the door, but I didn’t see where she went. To witness is also to testify or give evidence, especially in a court of law. Example: The key witness in the theft case was a local shop owner.

Synonym Usage

See observe.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prewitness
  noun
• self-witness
  noun
• witnesser
  noun
• self-witnessed
  adjective
• well-witnessed
  adjective
• witnessable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• witnesses
  plural

Participles

• witnessing
  present
• witnessed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• witness
  simple
• witnesses
  simple
• have witnessed
  perfect
• has witnessed
  perfect
• am witnessing
  progressive
• are witnessing
  progressive
• is witnessing
  progressive
• have been witnessing
  perfect progressive
• has been witnessing
  perfect progressive

Past

• witnessed
  simple
• had witnessed
  perfect
• was witnessing
  progressive
• were witnessing
  progressive
• had been witnessing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will witness
  simple
• will have witnessed
  perfect
• will be witnessing
  progressive
• will have been witnessing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of witness

First recorded before 950; (noun) Middle English, Old English witnes originally, “knowledge, understanding”; see wit ¹, -ness; (verb) Middle English, derivative of the noun

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Explanation

If you're walking down the street and see one car run a red light and plow into another, you are a witness to the accident. You saw it and can tell someone else how the accident happened. The first part of a witness's role is observation. You witness the accident. The second part is telling someone about it — bearing witness. In court, you can be a witness for the defense or prosecution. You can also witness a legal document, like a will, or a wedding conducted by the justice of the peace. Religious people use this word a lot too: being a witness in that sense is being a true believer who tries to convert others.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

witness witnesses witnessed witnessing

A police union source said he picked it up, but a witness said the grenade landed on him.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

Canadian and U.S. court documents indicate that Clark is now a cooperating witness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

He also questioned why it was only soldiers who appear in a witness box when so many others who were in the chain of command are never called to give evidence.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

Haney challenged that reconstruction, questioning gaps in surveillance images and noting that no witness or camera captured the ignition.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

One witness after another swore it was Booth, John Wilkes Booth, who had shot the president.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

The witnesses now agreed the child never had been raped or sodomized.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

The charges stemmed from a police investigation that began in 2023 that involved interviews with more than 100 witnesses and a review of thousands of documents, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

Was your brother involved in arranging the will, choosing the lawyer and witnesses, driving your father to the appointment or sitting in on the meeting when the will was signed?

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026

Most federal criminal cases start when a prosecutor calls one or more witnesses before a grand jury, establishes probable cause, and persuades the grand jury to return an indictment.

From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026

They explained their predicament to the man and his son, who agreed to serve as witnesses to their divorce.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

What we have witnessed in the past few days is that impulse made corporeal.

From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2026

Contractors who witnessed the incident described seeing flames coming from the rear tyres of the lorry and Lloyd's boots before he collapsed.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

“The Sovereign AI movement is imposing the most dramatic dichotomy between haves and have nots that I have witnessed in 30 years of business,” Karp says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

The positioning, they argue, is consistent with earnings growth of just 10% for the tech sector whereas the third quarter has witnessed something more like 47% earnings-per-share expansion.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026

Marjory still couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed.

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

But this year, there has been more widespread awareness that the wealth we are witnessing is just not the kind of wealth most regular people even have the option to attain.

From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026

When I spoke with him last Thursday, the veteran journalist repeated his belief in the press’ witnessing role, unshaken by the massive changes occurring in the news industry.

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026

At hundreds of marches across the nation that she attended with regularity throughout her life, parents would push forward, telling their children they were witnessing a historic figure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

"We are currently witnessing an El Niño event that is unprecedented in the historical record," Dr Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, told the BBC.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

“The time it sticks. Maybe we are witnessing the evolution of the human race. Think about that.”

From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

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Related Words

• attend
• mark
• note
• notice
• see
• watch

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