witness
part of speech
noun (a witness, witnesses); verb (witness, witnesses, witnessed, witnessing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A witness is a person who sees something happen, especially an accident or a crime. tree →
2) A witness is a person who tells a court what they know or saw. tree →
3) A witness is a person who watches someone sign an important paper and then signs it too. tree →
4) (verb) To witness something means to see it happen: "we witnessed a rainbow over the sea". tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories and crime tales, detectives question witnesses to find out what happened. In safety lessons, if you witness an accident, tell a grown-up or call for help. Phrases: eye witness (eyewitness), witness box (UK) or witness stand (USA), bear witness, witness statement.
examples
- A witness saw the car go through the red light. tree →
- The detective spoke to three witnesses. tree →
- She was called as a witness in court. tree →
- We witnessed an amazing sunset. tree →
- My aunt signed as a witness to the will. tree →
- Did anyone witness the accident? tree →
- Five people saw it, so there were 5 witnesses. tree →
- It was a terrible sight for a little girl to witness. tree →
note
Plural: witnesses (add -es). Past: witnessed. In the UK the witness stands in the "witness box"; in the USA on the "witness stand". An eyewitness saw it with their own eyes.
In the corpora
- The first witness is the Hatter, still holding his teacup and bread-and-butter.
- The next witness is the Duchess's cook, carrying her pepper-box, and everyone near the door starts sneezing.
- The King, relieved, asks the Queen to question the next witness, as it makes his forehead ache.
- The King says to the Queen: «you must cross-examine the next witness.
- A witness should say only what they really saw and heard, not guesses or what others said.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «witness» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.