Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A declaration by a witness under oath, as that given before a court or deliberative body.
  • noun All such declarations, spoken or written, offered in a legal case or deliberative hearing.
  • noun Evidence in support of a fact or assertion; proof.
  • noun A public declaration regarding a religious experience.
  • noun In the Bible, the stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments.
  • noun The ark containing these tablets.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Witness; evidence; proof or demonstration of some fact.
  • noun In law, the statement or declaration of a witness; oral evidence; a solemn statement or declaration under oath or affirmation, made as evidence before a tribunal or an officer for the purposes of evidence; a statement or statements made in proof of something.
  • noun Tenor of declarations or statements made or witness borne; declaration: as, the testimony of history.
  • noun The act of bearing witness; open attestation; profession.
  • noun A declaration or protest.
  • noun In Scripture: The law of God in general; the Scriptures.
  • noun Specifically, the two tables of the law (tables of the testimony); the decalogue.
  • noun Synonyms Deposition, attestation.
  • noun 1, 2, and Proof, etc. See evidence.
  • To witness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A solemn declaration or affirmation made for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact.
  • noun Affirmation; declaration.
  • noun Open attestation; profession.
  • noun Witness; evidence; proof of some fact.
  • noun (Jewish Antiq.) The two tables of the law.
  • noun Hence, the whole divine revelation; the sacre� Scriptures.
  • transitive verb obsolete To witness; to attest; to prove by testimony.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law statements made by a witness in court.
  • noun An account of first-hand experience.
  • noun In a church service, a personal account, such as of one's conversion.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun something that serves as evidence
  • noun an assertion offering firsthand authentication of a fact
  • noun a solemn statement made under oath

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French testimonie, from Latin testimōnium, from testis, witness; see testify.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin testimōnium ("testimony"), from testis ("a witness"); see test.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Comes from the ancient Roman practice of placing a hand on one's testicles while making an oath.

    Best. Etymology. EVER.

    February 7, 2009

  • Also one of the most dubious etymologies, with the unwarranted assumption that testis "testicle" is a metaphorical use of testis "witness".

    February 7, 2009

  • You've held on to language because without language there's no morality.' 'Ah yes, I spend a lot of time considering morality, when I'm not slaughtering people and gobbling them all up.' 'I'm talking about testimony. I'm talking about bearing witness to yourself. What is this - what are the journals - if not the compulsion to tell the truth of what you are? And what is the compulsion to tellnthe truth if not a moral compulsion? It's perfectly Kantian.' From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan.

    March 3, 2012