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Witness vs Corroborate - What's the difference?

witness | corroborate |

In transitive terms the difference between witness and corroborate

is that witness is to see or gain knowledge of through experience while corroborate is to make strong; to strengthen.

As a noun witness

is attestation of a fact or event; testimony.

witness

English

Noun

(es)
  • Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.
    • She can bear witness , since she was there at the time.
  • * Shakespeare
    • May we with the witness of a good conscience, pursue him with any further revenge?
  • One who sees or has personal knowledge of something.
    • As a witness to the event, I can confirm that he really said that.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Thyself art witness I am betrothed.
  • * R. Hall
    • Upon my looking round, I was witness to appearances which filled me with melancholy and regret.
  • Someone called to give evidence in a court.
    • The witness for the prosecution did not seem very credible.
  • Something that serves as evidence; a sign.
  • * Bible, Genesis xxxi. 51, 52
    • Laban said to Jacob, This heap be witness', and this pillar be ' witness .

    Derived terms

    * expert witness * eyewitness * key witness * principal witness

    Verb

    (es)
  • To furnish proof of, to show.
    • This certificate witnesses his presence on that day.
  • * 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.
    • He witnessed the accident.
  • * R. Hall
    • This is but a faint sketch of the incalculable calamities and horrors we must expect, should we ever witness the triumphs of modern infidelity.
  • * Marshall
    • General Washington did not live to witness the restoration of peace.
  • To present personal religious testimony; to preach at (someone) or on behalf of.
  • * 1998 , "Niebuhr, Reinhold", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy , volume 6?, page 842
    • Instead, Niebuhr's God was the God witnessed to in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, the Bible of the Christian world.
  • To see the execution of (a legal instrument), and subscribe it for the purpose of establishing its authenticity.
    • to witness a bond or a deed

    Synonyms

    * certify

    Anagrams

    *

    corroborate

    English

    Verb

    (corroborat)
  • To confirm or support something with additional evidence; to attest or vouch for.
  • * I. Taylor
    • The concurrence of all corroborates the same truth.
  • To make strong; to strengthen.
  • * I. Watts
    • As any limb well and duly exercised, grows stronger, the nerves of the body are corroborated thereby.

    Related terms

    * corroborative * corroboration * corroborator

    External links

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