testimony
Pluraltestimonies
- 1Statements made by a witness in court, usually given under oath.
The defense attorney challenged the reliability of the eyewitness testimony.
Her testimony before the grand jury lasted nearly three hours.
Similardeposition
Note
The courtroom sense: a witness's statements offered as evidence and ordinarily open to cross-examination. It usually works as a mass noun, as in eyewitness testimony or testimony given by co-defendants, though the plural also turns up, as in witness testimonies. Deposition is its near synonym. The word came through Middle English and Old French from Latin testimōnium.
- 2
- 3Evidence or proof that some fact is true.
The bridge still stands as testimony to the skill of its original builders.
Their survival against the odds is testimony to the strength of the human spirit.
Similartestament, proof, evidence, tribute, witness
Note
Here no one needs to speak at all, because a thing can be testimony. The King James Bible of 1611 has the disciples shake the dust off their feet "for a testimony against them," and the pattern lives on in phrases like stands as testimony to. Scholars still use the sense for written sources, such as the testimony of early writers on pronunciation: evidence that is weighed rather than sworn.
- 4A personal account shared in a religious service, such as the story of one's conversion or growth in faith.
Several members gave their testimony during the evening worship.
Her testimony of conversion inspired many people in the congregation.
Similarwitness
Note
Religion borrows the language of the courtroom sense here. The speaker stands up as a witness, but to faith rather than to the facts of a case. The usual verbs are give and share, as in she gave her testimony, and the account is often named by its subject: a testimony of faith, a life testimony. It is personal and spoken before a congregation as an act of witness.
Practice
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Origin
This word comes from Latin "testimonium" ("testimony"), which passed into Old French as "testimonie" and then into Middle English before becoming the modern English word.