Witness

Meaning

Witness means a person who sees or experiences an event, especially an important or unusual one. As a verb, it means to see or experience something happen.

Pronunciation

/ˈwɪt.nəs/

Word Forms

• Base form: witness
• Past tense: witnessed
• Past participle: witnessed
• Present participle: witnessing
• Plural: witnesses

Synonyms

Antonyms

Common Collocations

• witness an event — to see an event happen.
• witness a crime — to see a crime being committed.
• eyewitness — a person who directly saw an event happen.
• key witness — an important person who can provide information about an event.
• witness testimony — a statement given by someone who saw or experienced an event.
• bear witness — to show or provide evidence of something.

Example Sentences

• Several people witnessed the accident.
• She was the only witness to the conversation.
• Thousands of people witnessed the historic event.
• The police interviewed everyone who had witnessed the crime.
• He appeared in court as a witness.

Literary Example

Example:

“I was their only witness.”

— Jamel Brinkley, “Witness”

Here, witness means a person who sees or directly experiences an event. The narrator is describing his role in his sister Bernice's marriage, where he was the only person present to witness the ceremony.

Story Workshop

This word has not yet appeared in a Story Workshop story. When it does, this section will link directly to the story and highlight the paragraph where the word appears, allowing you to see it used naturally in context.

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