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unwitnessed

unwitnessed

1 6.7
Not seen by any person, so hard to prove in court
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈwɪtnəst/
translation icon : no presenciado
  • "THAT'S THE LAST thing Walter said to her, and she has spent countless moments playing back the phone conversation, imagining that unwitnessed day.

Examples

  • Without us, the physicists who have espoused the anthropic principle tell us the universe would be unwitnessed and, in a real sense, not there at all.

    Blog text (23)
  • The so-called feathered "relatives" of the Oviraptor are just birds, and it is only the unsupportable and unwitnessed presupposition that dinosaurs turned into birds that prompts anyone to call these animals "relatives."

    Blog text (15)
  • "Your life will not go unwitnessed, because I will be your witness. "

  • That was my only vow—gone, unwitnessed, hurried.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Sudden death was defined as witnessed, instantaneous death or death within one hour of onset of symptoms, as well as unwitnessed death that, depending on the circumstances, was regarded to have been sudden.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Remember that unwitnessed trauma is common in young children, but don't forget non-accidental injury. Limping? Tripping? Falling? Problems getting up? Can the carer or child account for it?

    Academic text (2015)
  • The police concluded that the incident was an unwitnessed crime since no one was around to see what happened.

  • An unwitnessed death can complicate legal investigations and lead to many unanswered questions.

  • Because the event was unwitnessed, the authorities had to rely on the limited evidence available to determine what occurred.

Synonyms

unobserved
vsunwitnessed
3 5.2

Not seen or noticed by anyone

is used when no formal or legal testimony records the event
unwatched
vsunwitnessed
1 3.9

Without anyone watching or looking after it

covers lack of any seeing or official observation rather than only caretaking

Antonyms

observed
  • Specialized
3.9

Seen or measured directly, not just guessed

How Observed

unattended
22 3.6
unnoticed
57 2.5
unobserved
3 5.2
unseen
66 3.2
unwitnessed
1 6.7

Surface Forms

unwitnessed positive

Morphology

unwitnessed = witnessed (transparent) = un + witness + ed

The negative prefix 'un-' is added to the past-participle/adjectival form 'witnessed' to mean 'not observed', a regular and predictable negation.

Etymology

Unwitnessed breaks into un- meaning 'not' and witness meaning 'someone who saw something happen'. So unwitnessed means 'not seen by anyone', which is why an unwitnessed event is often hard to prove in court.