witness
/ˈwɪt.nɪs/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.52 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One who is called upon to witness an event or action, such as a wedding or the signing of a document.
Countable
noun
A particular version of a text (seen as providing testimony of archetype or other earlier version)
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "She can bear witness, since she was there at the time."
- "May we, with the warrant of womanhood and the witness of a good conscience, pursue him with any further revenge?"
- "We have as much witness from heaven as we need."
- "On another corner, stands an old style tenement building, whose dirty grey facade bears as much witness to the volume of exhaust fumes from millions of passing cars as it does to the age of the dwelling."
- "Nor do the formation and articulation of such knowledge themselves bear much witness to Geist."
- "Fleeing is giving witness, and those that plead against it are loath to give so much witness"
Etymology
From Middle English witnesse, from Old English ġewitnes, equivalent to wit + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”), Icelandic vitni (“witness”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈwɪt.nɪs/
- British English: /ˈwɪt.nɪs/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law.