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

Meeting with eyewitness Geoffrey Mason, now a veteran sports TV executive but then a producing newbie (played in the film by John Magaro), sparked Fehlbaum’s storytelling approach: Mason described a situation that sounded to the writer-director like an ethics thriller as much as a slice of history. —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2024

Two eyewitness competitors tell Rolling Stone that members of the group refused to leave Toronto for multiple days, having numerous meetings with production staff and their lawyers in an attempt to roll back the results. —Steven Asarch, Rolling Stone, 26 Dec. 2024

Construction crews for the city were tearing down a restaurant located on the Wharf, which had been damaged in a storm surge last December, when the collapse occurred, eyewitnesses shared with local CBS affiliate KION-TV. —Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY, 25 Dec. 2024

An eyewitness told the paper that Merenda severed his hand in the accident, before the bike crashed into bystanders, including an elderly couple and others. —Anna Lazarus Caplan, People.com, 9 Dec. 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