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testimony

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

 testimony on Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Etymology

More information PIE word ...

Inherited from Middle English testimonie, from Old French testimonie, from Latin testimōnium (“testimony”).

Pronunciation

Noun

testimony (countable and uncountable, plural testimonies)

  1. (law) Statements made by a witness in court.
    Synonym: deposition
    • 2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian‎:
      The Missouri prosecutors' case against Clemons, based partly on incriminating testimony given by his co-defendants, was that Clemons was part of a group of four youths who accosted the sisters on the Chain of Rocks Bridge one dark night in April 1991.
    • 2024 November 21, Helen Regan, Isaac Yee and Eve Brennan, “Australian teens among six tourists dead as countries warn of suspected methanol poisonings in Laos”, in CNN‎:
      “The suspected cause of the death is believed to be the consumption of tainted alcoholic beverages,” KPL said. “Officials are in the process of collecting detailed information, evidence, and witness testimonies and are expected to release an official statement soon.”
  2. An account of first-hand experience.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      [Thou] for the testimony of truth, hast borne / Universal reproach.
  3. (religion) In a church service (or religious service), a personal account, such as one's conversion, testimony of faith, or life testimony.
  4. Witness; evidence; proof of some fact.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 6:11:
      And whoſoeuer ſhall not receiue you, noꝛ heare you, when yee depart thence, *ſhake off the duſt vnder your feet, foꝛ a teſtimonie against them: Uerely I ſay vnto you, it ſhalbe moꝛe tolerable for Sodom and Gomoꝛrha in the day of iudgement, then foꝛ that citie.
    • 2021 July 28, Fausto Cercignani, “On the alleged existence of a vowel /yː/ in early Modern English”, in English Language and Linguistics, volume 26, number 2, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, page 4:
      Of course, the testimony of the early writers on orthography and pronunciation on the question under discussion is not always easy to interpret, especially when they offer comparisons with foreign sounds or when they give descriptions derived from other sources or from classical models.

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