Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A declaration by a witness under oath, as that given before a court or deliberative body.
- noun All such declarations, spoken or written, offered in a legal case or deliberative hearing.
- noun Evidence in support of a fact or assertion; proof.
- noun A public declaration regarding a religious experience.
- noun In the Bible, the stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments.
- noun The ark containing these tablets.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To witness.
- noun Witness; evidence; proof or demonstration of some fact.
- noun In law, the statement or declaration of a witness; oral evidence; a solemn statement or declaration under oath or affirmation, made as evidence before a tribunal or an officer for the purposes of evidence; a statement or statements made in proof of something.
- noun Tenor of declarations or statements made or witness borne; declaration: as, the testimony of history.
- noun The act of bearing witness; open attestation; profession.
- noun A declaration or protest.
- noun In Scripture: The law of God in general; the Scriptures.
- noun Specifically, the two tables of the law (tables of the testimony); the decalogue.
- noun Synonyms Deposition, attestation.
- noun 1, 2, and Proof, etc. See
evidence .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To witness; to attest; to prove by testimony.
- noun A solemn declaration or affirmation made for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact.
- noun Affirmation; declaration.
- noun Open attestation; profession.
- noun Witness; evidence; proof of some fact.
- noun (Jewish Antiq.) The two tables of the law.
- noun Hence, the whole divine revelation; the sacre� Scriptures.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun law
statements made by awitness incourt . - noun An
account offirst-hand experience . - noun In a
church service, a personal account, such as of one'sconversion .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun something that serves as evidence
- noun an assertion offering firsthand authentication of a fact
- noun a solemn statement made under oath
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The Reformed Dissenters "prefix a _Narrative_ to their testimony," thus rejecting _history_ from _testimony_.
Act, Declaration, & Testimony for the Whole of our Covenanted Reformation, as Attained to, and Established in Britain and Ireland; Particularly Betwixt the Years 1638 and 1649, Inclusive The Reformed Presbytery
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_good_, such a declaration would not be entitled to a feather's weight as testimony; it is not _testimony_ but _opinion_.
The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society
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_good_, such a declaration would not be entitled to a feather's weight as testimony; it is not _testimony_ but _opinion_.
The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 3 of 4 American Anti-Slavery Society
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In many civil cases, what the two parties swear in testimony is mutually irreconcilable and one or the other is wrong; the answer is to let the jury determine who's not being truthful and let the punishment be they lose the case.
Balkinization 2007
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The best way to read this testimony is alongside the other written witness submissions, as taken together they offer a good compendium of the extant expert views in the US on how to see drones and the CIA — and the CIA and its use of force is, at the end of the day, the biggest issue here.
The Volokh Conspiracy » My House Testimony in “Drones II” 2010
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Walter Brueggemann, in the book already referred to, describes the interplay in Hebrew Scripture between what he calls testimony and countertestimony – between the triumphant gratitude that celebrates God's commitment and the agonised doubt and protest that can see only 'absence and silence' and articulates God's 'hiddenness, ambiguity, and negativity' (p. 400).
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But I have sufficiently shewn, that this is not the true notion of faith in general, but only of a particular kind of faith; viz. that which is wrought by the argument, which we call testimony or authority.
The Works of Dr. John Tillotson, Late Archbishop of Canterbury. Vol. 09. 1630-1694 1820
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This testimony is always agreeable to the written word, and is therefore always grounded upon sanctification; for the Spirit in the heart cannot contradict the Spirit in the word.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation) 1721
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– Joe Medicine Crow-High Bird: The last living Plains Indian war chief and author of seminal works in Native American history is also the last person alive to have received direct oral testimony from a participant in the Battle of the Little Bighorn: his grandfather, a scout for Gen. George Custer.
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The NCI admitted in testimony before the U.S. Congress in 1998, after an investigation by the U.S.
Robert Alvarez: Radioactive Fallout From Nuclear Testing and the Rise of Thyroid Cancer in the U.S. Robert Alvarez 2010
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On top of all that, defendants have the right to confront their accusers, but machine testimony, as it’s called, may be based on as little as 20 seconds of audiotape.
Can We Identify a Person From Their Voice? Peter Andrey Smith 2023
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On top of all that, defendants have the right to confront their accusers, but machine testimony, as it’s called, may be based on as little as 20 seconds of audiotape.
Can We Identify a Person From Their Voice? Peter Andrey Smith 2023
tbtabby commented on the word testimony
Comes from the ancient Roman practice of placing a hand on one's testicles while making an oath.
Best. Etymology. EVER.
February 7, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word testimony
Also one of the most dubious etymologies, with the unwarranted assumption that testis "testicle" is a metaphorical use of testis "witness".
February 7, 2009
Louises commented on the word testimony
You've held on to language because without language there's no morality.' 'Ah yes, I spend a lot of time considering morality, when I'm not slaughtering people and gobbling them all up.' 'I'm talking about testimony. I'm talking about bearing witness to yourself. What is this - what are the journals - if not the compulsion to tell the truth of what you are? And what is the compulsion to tellnthe truth if not a moral compulsion? It's perfectly Kantian.' From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan.
March 3, 2012