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Glite Dictionary
to suborn perjury

to suborn perjury

7 9.9
Make someone lie in court, often by offering money
  • phrasal verb
  • /səˈbɔrn ˈpɜrdʒəri/
  • Formal
translation icon : subornar perjurio
  • It is illegal to suborn perjury, as it undermines the integrity of the judicial system.
  • suborning perjury and obstruction of justice
  • tampering with witnesses and suborning perjury
  • suborning perjury or obstruction

I don't know, because I can't think of anything that spells suborning perjury more than that.

Examples

  • The lawyer was accused of trying to suborn perjury by persuading the witness to lie in court.

  • But until there is a consensus about what those limits should be, short of withholding evidence or suborning perjury, the debate about smoke-screen defenses will rage on and on.

    Academic text (1995)

  • While a defense lawyer, she suborned perjury as if it were something we all do.

    Blog text (31)

  • Clinton suborned perjury and was guilty of sexual harassment.

    Blog text (33)

  • I don't know, because I can't think of anything that spells suborning perjury more than that.

    Shawn Ryan Show

  • The defendant's actions were seen as an attempt to suborn perjury from the key witnesses.

Synonyms

to suborn
vsto suborn perjury
  • Formal
8 9.9

To persuade someone to do something illegal, especially to lie in court

is specifically about persuading someone to lie under oath

Antonyms

to prevent
∞ 2.3

Stop something from happening or someone from doing it

to discourage
257 3.5

To try to stop something by making people less willing to do it

How Coercive

to coerce
  • Offensive
91 6.4
to suborn perjury
  • Formal
7 9.9
to bribe
140 4.1

Surface Forms

suborn perjury infinitive
suborned perjury past
suborned perjury past participle
suborning perjury present participle
suborns perjury third person singular

Morphology

suborn + perjury

The verb 'suborn' (to induce someone to act unlawfully) combined with 'perjury' (lying under oath) yields a directly compositional meaning: to induce someone to lie under oath. This is a standard verb + object composition and thus predictable for a learner who already knows both constituent meanings, albeit somewhat formal/legal in register.

Etymology

The phrase suborn perjury comes from the old word suborn meaning to secretly set someone up and perjury meaning 'to lie under oath'. It creates the image of paying or forcing a witness to go into court and give false answers, so it means 'to persuade someone to lie in court'.