testimony

English

 testimony on Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• testimonie (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛstɪmoʊni/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛstɪməni/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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.

2. An account of first-hand experience.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →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:

     When ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them.

Derived terms

• compel testimony

Related terms

• test
• testify
• testimonial

Translations

Further reading

• “testimony”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “testimony”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.