Witless vs Witness - What's the difference?
witless | witness |
Destitute of wit or understanding; wanting thought; hence, indiscreet; not under the guidance of judgment.
Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.
* Shakespeare
One who sees or has personal knowledge of something.
* Shakespeare
* R. Hall
Someone called to give evidence in a court.
Something that serves as evidence; a sign.
* Bible, Genesis xxxi. 51, 52
To furnish proof of, to show.
* 1667': round he throws his baleful eyes / That '''witness'd huge affliction and dismay — John Milton, ''Paradise Lost , Book 1 ll. 56-7
To take as evidence.
*
To see or gain knowledge of through experience.
* R. Hall
* Marshall
To present personal religious testimony; to preach at (someone) or on behalf of.
* 1998 , "Niebuhr, Reinhold", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy , volume 6?, page 842
To see the execution of (a legal instrument), and subscribe it for the purpose of establishing its authenticity.
As an adjective witless
is destitute of wit or understanding; wanting thought; hence, indiscreet; not under the guidance of judgment.As a noun witness is
attestation of a fact or event; testimony.As a verb witness is
to furnish proof of, to show.witless
English
(Webster 1913)Adjective
(en adjective)Usage notes
* This term is frequently found in phrases such as (term), (term), and so on.witness
English
Noun
(es)- She can bear witness , since she was there at the time.
- May we with the witness of a good conscience, pursue him with any further revenge?
- As a witness to the event, I can confirm that he really said that.
- Thyself art witness I am betrothed.
- Upon my looking round, I was witness to appearances which filled me with melancholy and regret.
- The witness for the prosecution did not seem very credible.
- Laban said to Jacob, This heap be witness', and this pillar be ' witness .
Derived terms
* expert witness * eyewitness * key witness * principal witnessVerb
(es)- This certificate witnesses his presence on that day.
- He witnessed the accident.
- This is but a faint sketch of the incalculable calamities and horrors we must expect, should we ever witness the triumphs of modern infidelity.
- General Washington did not live to witness the restoration of peace.
- Instead, Niebuhr's God was the God witnessed to in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, the Bible of the Christian world.
- to witness a bond or a deed