eyewitness

noun

eye·​wit·​ness ˈī-ˈwit-nəs 

: one who sees an occurrence or an object

especially : one who gives a report on what he or she has seen

Examples of eyewitness in a Sentence

The police are hoping to locate an eyewitness to the shooting.

He was able to give an eyewitness account of the shooting.

Recent Examples on the Web

According to an arrest warrant obtained by PEOPLE, prosecutors cited an eyewitness and multiple text messages as key evidence in their case. —Chris Spargo, People.com, 24 Apr. 2025

Luke Couch further relayed what he was told what had happened, according to investigators and eyewitnesses. —Danielle Wallace, FOXNews.com, 17 Apr. 2025

That detail was drawn from eyewitness accounts, but a 2023 computer simulation called it into question. —ArsTechnica, 10 Apr. 2025

The incident occurred near Exit 67 in McIntosh County and was reportedly caused by a vehicle that ran through a red light at high speed, according to eyewitnesses on the scene. —Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 8 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1539, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for eyewitness

• fitness
• witness
• unfitness

Kids Definition

eyewitness

noun

eye·​wit·​ness -ˈwit-nəs 

: a person who sees an occurrence and is able to give a report of it

Legal Definition

eyewitness

noun

eye·​wit·​ness

: one who sees an occurrence or object or sometimes experiences it through other senses (as hearing) and usually reports or testifies about it