deponent
/dɪˈpoʊnənt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.73 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Having an active meaning, but conjugating as though it were being used with a different voice (such as the passive).
noun
A witness; especially one who gives information under oath, in a deposition concerning facts known to him or her.
noun
A deponent verb.
Example Sentences
- "The said William Aitken, being of new solemnly sworn, &c., depones he is a Burgess of Hawick, and had the property of a house which he now liferents, the fee being disponed to his son-in-law, Bailie Robert Scot, for the use of his son William, his daughter, Bailie Scot's wife, having paid the price of the house; depones sixty years ago Gilbert Elliot was tenant in Nether Southfield, who broke Hawick Common by plowing a part of it, which the Deponent saw at the Common-Riding when the Magistrates and other persons at the Common-Riding potched the ground he had plowed, and was then sown that he might not reap the crop of this."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē- Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Indo-European *h₂pó Proto-Italic *po Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *tḱéytibf. Proto-Indo-European *tḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *tḱinéti Proto-Italic *sinō Proto-Italic *pozinō Latin pōnō Latin dēpōnō Latin dēpōnēnsder. English deponent From Latin dēpōnēns (“laying aside”), the present active participle of dēpōnō (“lay aside”), from dē- + pōnō (“put, place”). The name comes from the idea that such verbs were originally reflexive and then later "laid aside" their passive meanings.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: dēpōnēns
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /dɪˈpoʊnənt/
- British English: /dɪˈpəʊnənt/