to bear witness
29
4.6
- phrasal verb
- /bɛr ˈwɪtnəs/
- Formal
:
atestiguar
- Thank you to everyone who has travelled here today to bear witness.
- bear witness to the truth
- bear witness to the events
How do we bear witness and what comes afterward?
- How do we bear witness and what comes afterward?
- Several students communicated the indescribable hurt of bearing witness to injustice.
- You find your people that hear you and believe you and can bear witness to the struggle you're in.
- Just listen, bear witness, hold space, don't try to fix it.
- And I think that the history of Muslims also bears witness to that.
- A feat of fitness prowess to which both of us, you and I, Adam, bore witness.
- You need someone to bear witness to your pain to help you cut through this isolation.
- During your time here as a student, you've borne witness to many painful reminders of how the world is still falling short of that vision.
- And you know, it's inspiring to bear witness to somebody who just had an idea and is really executing on it.
- And so as long as you keep going, you bear witness to yourself of what you are capable of.
- It moves me to bear witness to these, these, these inspiring people under difficult circumstances.
Examples
-
You find your people that hear you and believe you and can bear witness to the struggle you're in.
-
So Jordan Klepper went down to the courthouse to bear witness to the chaos.
-
And now I want America to bear witness.
-
I came to bear witness to the truth.
-
Even as simple documents of history, they bear witness to an extraordinary human life.
Academic text (1991) -
How do we bear witness and what comes afterward?
-
I'm aware that I was called here today to bear witness
-
We must choose the good we can, expose the evil we know, and ultimately bear witness.
Fiction book (2001) -
We are bearing witness to a miracle.
-
More than fifty witnesses came forward to bear witness to the events of that day.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To give proof that something is true
∞
3.1
To show that something is true by giving facts or reasons
∞
2.7
Report someone's actions to the police or an authority
945
5.6
To say officially in court what you saw or know
814
2.7
Say what really happened without hiding facts or lying
111
9.0
Use evidence to show that a statement or idea is true
99
5.0
Say that someone is honest or reliable because you know them
73
6.0
To speak in court as a witness about what you saw
57
6.6
To officially confirm that something is true, often in court
46
6.5
To show that something is true
26
8.0
To give a formal statement while promising to tell the truth
15
5.0
To add a written statement saying a legal document is true, usually signed
7
4.7
Show by facts that something is true
3
3.8
To give formal proof that something is true
1
9.9
To give a formal statement under oath, often in writing
1
8.2
To give a written statement you swear is true to a court
Shows something as true in a legal document
Antonyms
How Convincing
111
9.0
- Formal
57
6.6
- Formal
29
4.6
∞
1.8
∞
2.1
834
2.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
bear + witness
The verb 'bear' can mean 'to carry or provide' and combined with 'witness' (testimony) yields the sense 'to give evidence', so the meaning is partly compositional and parallels cross‑linguistic patterns like 'give testimony'. However, 'bear' in this formal sense and the use of 'witness' as a noun meaning 'testimony' are somewhat register‑specific and may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
The verb bear witness comes from the image of a person who bears, or carries and shows, what they witness, what they have seen. So bear witness means 'to give evidence' or to tell others that something is true.