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character witness
noun
: a person who gives evidence in a legal action concerning the reputation, conduct, and moral nature of a party
Examples of character witness in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
After the initial indictment was unsealed in September, Menendez was abandoned by Democratic allies, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who appeared as a character witness in Menendez's first federal bribery trial in 2017, which ended in a mistrial.
—Caitlin Yilek, CBS News, 3 June 2024
That was remarkable because Booker testified as a character witness during Menendez’s first trial.
—Terence McGinley, New York Times, 14 May 2024
The finale alone gave us a wealth of high jinks independent of the trial featuring the anti-Larry character witnesses.
—Esther Zuckerman, Rolling Stone, 8 Apr. 2024
One explanation is that the civilian panels tend to be reluctant to take away a person’s livelihood after hearing about the officer’s life at the proceedings, which can include character witnesses, Rimkunas said.
—Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2024
General Stafford and his wife, Linda Ann (Dishman) Stafford, adopted two boys, Michael and Stas, from a Russian orphanage in 2004 with help from Colonel Leonov, who was a character witness for the couple.
—Richard Goldstein, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2024
In Rolling Stone’s investigation from June, Majors’ legal team provided six character witness statements from women whom Majors had dated or was close with.
—Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 25 Oct. 2023
This is a guy who last night in New Hampshire used Vladimir Putin as a character witness for the decaying democracy in America.
—CBS News, 17 Dec. 2023
Pedersen was released on $100,000 bail in February after McKelvie received letters of support from 43 different character witnesses, including powerful people in Pedersen’s southern Utah community.
—Kolbie Peterson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 31 July 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'character witness.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
circa 1832, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of character witness was
circa 1832
Dictionary Entries Near character witness
Cite this Entry
“Character witness.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/character%20witness. Accessed 17 Jun. 2024.
Legal Definition
character witness
see witness
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