witness

英 ['w?tn?s] 美['w?tn?s]

CET4TEM4IELTS考研TOEFLCET6中頻詞核心詞匯GRE

復數(shù):?witnesses;第三人稱單數(shù):?witnesses;過去式:?witnessed;過去分詞:?witnessed;現(xiàn)在分詞:?witnessing;

witness 見證

wit,看，-ness,名詞后綴。引申詞義見證。

witness: witness: [OE] Witness originally meant ‘knowledge’ or ‘wisdom’; it was simply an abstract noun formed from wit. This was extended via ‘knowledge gained by observation’ to ‘testimony’ in the Old English period, and by the beginning of the Middle English period ‘person who gives testimony’ was well established.
=> wit
witness (n.): Old English witnes "attestation of fact, event, etc., from personal knowledge;" also "one who so testifies;" originally "knowledge, wit," formed from wit (n.) + -ness. Christian use (late 14c.) is as a literal translation of Greek martys (see martyr). Witness stand is recorded from 1853.
witness (v.): c. 1300, "bear testimony," from witness (n.). Meaning "affix one's signature to (a document) to establish its identity" is from early 14c. Meaning "see or know by personal presence, observe" is from 1580s. Related: Witnessed; witnessing.

1. His girlfriend had gone into the witness box and taken the oath.: 他的女朋友進入證人席并立了誓。

2. The plaintiff's sole witness, a gambler and layabout, was easily discredited.: 原告唯一的證人嗜賭成性，游手好閑，其證詞一下子就被推翻了。

3. The convictions rest solely on disputed witness and confessional statements.: 僅僅根據(jù)有爭議的目擊者證言和供詞就定了罪。

4. Too often children are witness to a disturbing amount of violence.: 孩子們經(jīng)常會目睹暴力事件，其數(shù)量之多令人不安。

5. One eye-witness said the rioters were engaged in an orgy of destruction.: 一位目擊者稱暴徒肆無忌憚地到處進行破壞。