Library / English Dictionary

TESTIFY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: testified   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give testimony in a court of law

Synonyms:

attest; bear witness; take the stand; testify

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "testify" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "testify"):

vouch (give personal assurance; guarantee)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

They testify that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

testifier (a person who testifies or gives a deposition)

testimony (something that serves as evidence)

testimony (an assertion offering firsthand authentication of a fact)

testimony (a solemn statement made under oath)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Provide evidence for

Example:

Her behavior testified to her incompetence

Synonyms:

bear witness; evidence; prove; show; testify

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "testify" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "testify"):

attest; certify; demonstrate; evidence; manifest (provide evidence for; stand as proof of; show by one's behavior, attitude, or external attributes)

presume (constitute reasonable evidence for)

abduce; adduce; cite (advance evidence for)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

testifier (a person who testifies or gives a deposition)

testimony (something that serves as evidence)

testimony (an assertion offering firsthand authentication of a fact)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I found him a very patient, very forbearing, and yet an exacting master: he expected me to do a great deal; and when I fulfilled his expectations, he, in his own way, fully testified his approbation.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

You may say what you chuse—but your countenance testifies that your thoughts on this subject are very much like mine.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Yes; his brother, Colonel Valentine Walter, has testified to his departure from Woolwich, and Admiral Sinclair to his arrival in London; so Sir James is no longer a direct factor in the problem.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In his present behaviour to herself, moreover, she had a fresh source of displeasure, for the inclination he soon testified of renewing those intentions which had marked the early part of their acquaintance could only serve, after what had since passed, to provoke her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The rosy man had grown pale; his flesh had fallen away; he was visibly balder and older; and yet it was not so much these tokens of a swift physical decay that arrested the lawyer’s notice, as a look in the eye and quality of manner that seemed to testify to some deep-seated terror of the mind.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Harriet bore the intelligence very well—blaming nobody—and in every thing testifying such an ingenuousness of disposition and lowly opinion of herself, as must appear with particular advantage at that moment to her friend.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Miss Bingley offered her the carriage, and she only wanted a little pressing to accept it, when Jane testified such concern in parting with her, that Miss Bingley was obliged to convert the offer of the chaise to an invitation to remain at Netherfield for the present.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)