subpoena

1 of 2

noun

sub·​poe·​na sə-ˈpē-nə 

nonstandard

-nē 

: a writ commanding a person designated in it to appear in court under a penalty for failure

subpoena

2 of 2

verb

subpoenaed; subpoenaing

transitive verb

: to serve or summon with a writ of subpoena

Did you know?

The Origin of Subpoena

If you think you recognize the sub- in subpoena as the prefix meaning "under, beneath, below," you're on target. Subpoena arrived in Modern English (via the Middle English suppena) from the Latin sub poena, a combination of sub and poena, meaning "penalty." Other poena descendants in English include impunity ("freedom from penalty"), penal ("of or relating to punishment"), and even punish. There is also the verb subpoena, as in "Defense lawyers have subpoenaed several witnesses to the crime."

Synonyms

Noun

• process
• summons

Example Sentences

Noun

received a subpoena to appear as a witness for the prosecution

Verb

He was subpoenaed to testify in a hearing.

The prosecutor subpoenaed the defendant's financial records.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The June 3 visit by law enforcement officials was to collect material in response to the May 2022 grand jury subpoena demanding the return of all documents with classified markings. —BostonGlobe.com, 25 May 2023

Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, described the reasoning behind the subpoena in a letter sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland last week. —Jerry Dunleavy, Washington Examiner, 10 May 2023

The Oversight Committee's ranking member, Jamie Raskin, also attacked the subpoena in a statement. —Will Steakin, ABC News, 3 May 2023

And with no subpoena power or congressional staff behind them, the book falls short of the authors’ ambitions. —Dan Diamond, Washington Post, 25 Apr. 2023

Twitter and Facebook rebuffed subpoenas from families of the Sandy Hook school massacre victims, who were seeking internal company data to show how conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s false claims about the killings spread on social media, according to court documents and lawyers for the families. —Ted Mann, wsj.com, 9 Apr. 2023

In December, another lawyer for Mr. Trump, Timothy Parlatore, also appeared in front of the grand jury, to answer questions about a subpoena prosecutors had issued in May seeking all classified material in the possession of the custodian of records for Mr. Trump’s presidential office. —Alan Feuer, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2023

In May 2022, federal authorities sent Trump a subpoena to force the issue. —Rosalind S. Helderman, Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Josh Dawsey, Shane Harris, Ashley Parker, Devlin Barrett, The Washington Post, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Mar. 2023

The Marvel subpoena request was filed pursuant to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). —Todd Spangler, Variety, 13 Mar. 2023

Verb

Comer subpoenaed Wray earlier this month seeking a specific FBI form from June 2020 that is a report of conversations or interactions with a confidential source. —Farnoush Amiri, ajc, 30 May 2023

People of interest: Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Michael Ovitz, and more Musk is not the only high-profile individual who has been subpoenaed in the case. —Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 16 May 2023

The company recently subpoenaed Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign. —Oliver Darcy, CNN, 10 May 2023

Ernst said the task force would have the authority to hold hearings, take testimony and issue subpoenas. —Josh Meyer, USA TODAY, 10 May 2023

When the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenaed Justice Tom Clark in 1953, the justice simply declined to appear, and the committee didn’t try to force compliance in court. —Jesús Rodríguez, Washington Post, 5 May 2023

Prosecutors have subpoenaed nearly every Mar-A-Lago employee in the investigation, the Times reported Friday. —Sara Dorn, Forbes, 5 May 2023

House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is threatening to subpoena the United States attorney for the District of Columbia to testify before the full committee regarding the surge of crimes in the nation’s capital. —Cami Mondeaux, Washington Examiner, 4 May 2023

Here are all of the challenges to Arizona's 2022 election so far Arizona legislator subpoenas Maricopa County for answers about Election Day problems. —Lacey Latch, The Arizona Republic, 2 May 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English suppena, from Latin sub poena under penalty

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1640, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing subpoena

• subpoena duces tecum
• subpoena ad testificandum

• subpoena duces tecum
• subpoena ad testificandum

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Kids Definition

subpoena

1 of 2 noun

sub·​poe·​na sə-ˈpē-nə 

: an order in writing commanding a person named in it to appear in court under a penalty for failure to appear

subpoena

2 of 2 verb

subpoenaed; subpoenaing

: to serve or summon with a subpoena

Etymology

Noun

from the Latin phrase sub poena "under penalty"; used as the beginning words of the order

Legal Definition

subpoena

1 of 2 noun

sub·​poe·​na

variants also subpena

sə-ˈpē-nə

: a writ commanding a designated person upon whom it has been served to appear (as in court or before a congressional committee) under a penalty (as a charge of contempt) for failure to comply compare summons

subpoena

2 of 2 transitive verb

variants also subpena

subpoenaed; subpoenaing

: to call before a court or hearing by a subpoena

the inspector is given the power to subpoena any relevant…witnesses

—Harvard Law Review

also : to command the production of (evidence) by a subpoena duces tecum

subpoenaed documents

Etymology

Noun

Latin sub poena under penalty