Dictionary

bear witness en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. To deliver a testimony, especially as witness
   • He hesitated to bear witness against them in court for fear of reprisals by the felons' accomplices
2. To prove, demonstrate
   • In stretches, this new Apes is an audacious, idiosyncratic piece of blockbuster filmmaking: a mix of Pixar, revenge Westerns, and Apocalypse Now, told almost entirely from the point-of-view of a posse of gun-toting, super-evolved apes as they roam the snowy Sierra Nevada foothills of the post-apocalyptic future, accompanied by a mute human girl, and bear witness to the strange cruelty of man. 2017 July 7, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “The ambitious War For The Planet Of The Apes ends up surrendering to formula”, in The Onion AV Club:
   • The dubious state of the whole society bears witness of years of misrule
   • Nor, having married coach and bogie design successfully, does it follow that good riding will ensue, whatever the track carrying it—as the performance of B.R. standard coaches on flat-bottom, concrete-sleepered track bears witness. 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: The riding of B.R. coaches”, in Trains Illustrated, page 705:

Forms

Deriveds

bear false witness

Synonyms

testify (deliver a testimony)

Translations (34)

uk сві́дчити (to deliver testimony) · pl dawać świadectwo (to prove, to demonstrate) · la testificor (to deliver testimony) · sv vittna (to deliver testimony) · he העיד (to deliver testimony) · cs svědčit (to deliver testimony) · hu tanúvallomást tesz (to deliver testimony) · sk svedčiť (to deliver testimony) · de bezeugen (to deliver testimony) · gd tog fianais (to deliver testimony) · sv bära vittnesbörd (to prove, to demonstrate) · sv vittna (to prove, to demonstrate) · ar شَهِدَ (to deliver testimony) · hu szemléltet (to prove, to demonstrate) · pl dać świadectwo (to prove, to demonstrate) · he העיד (to prove, to demonstrate) · sv avlägga vittnesbörd (to deliver testimony) · pt provar (to prove, to demonstrate) · ru свиде́тельствовать (to deliver testimony) · pl dać świadectwo (to deliver testimony) · hu tanúsít (to prove, to demonstrate) · nl getuigen (to prove, to demonstrate) · hu tanúskodik (to deliver testimony) · pl dawać świadectwo (to deliver testimony) · nl getuigen (to deliver testimony) · grc μαρτυρέω (to deliver testimony) · gd tog fianais (to prove, to demonstrate) · egy mt:t:r-Dba-Dba-A2 (to deliver testimony) · sh svedočiti (to prove, to demonstrate) · nl (een) getuigenis afleggen (to deliver testimony) · hu tanúskodik (to prove, to demonstrate) · he המחיש (to prove, to demonstrate) · pt testemunhar (to deliver testimony) · be све́дчыць (to deliver testimony)