eyewitness

noun

eye·​wit·​ness ˈī-ˈwit-nəs 

: one who sees an occurrence or an object

especially : one who gives a report on what he or she has seen

Examples of eyewitness in a Sentence

The police are hoping to locate an eyewitness to the shooting.

He was able to give an eyewitness account of the shooting.

Recent Examples on the Web

Over the next four years, Thompson embarked on a far-reaching reporting venture, drawing on hundreds of interviews, eyewitness accounts, academic tomes and archival documents to piece together the story of Till’s final hours. —Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Nov. 2024

Despite the ongoing mystery, the abundance of eyewitness reports and indirect evidence points to the possibility that ball lightning is indeed real. —Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 19 Sep. 2024

For an example of one such case, a friend suggests a dive into the diaries of George Templeton Strong, a wealthy nineteenth-century New York City lawyer, and his eyewitness account, from 1863, of the Draft Riots, in Manhattan. —Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2024

Two years later, Monica Rivera, the only eyewitness to the crime, recanted in a tearful phone call with Duran’s family. —Keri Blakinger, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1539, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

eyewitness

noun

eye·​wit·​ness -ˈwit-nəs 

: a person who sees an occurrence and is able to give a report of it

Legal Definition

eyewitness

noun

eye·​wit·​ness

: one who sees an occurrence or object or sometimes experiences it through other senses (as hearing) and usually reports or testifies about it