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

The landlord, who was 82, was the only eyewitness, and prosecutors wanted to hurry along the proceedings. —CBS News, 15 Feb. 2025

Guests would offer up eyewitness stories on Bell’s show about alien counters, past lives, time travel and more X-File-like situations. —Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 10 Feb. 2025

The company also noted that eyewitness accounts indicate the free fall phase of Wick’s skydive appeared normal, with the parachute deploying as expected. —Greg Wehner, Fox News, 27 Jan. 2025

But eyewitnesses to the fire said two house cats may have perished. —Hank Beckman, Chicago Tribune, 17 Jan. 2025

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