Testifies

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To speak or give evidence formally, usually in a legal setting, to support a fact or claim ; to act as a sign or proof revealing the truth of something
2. To declare or confirm something by oath, often in court ; to demonstrate or show evidence that supports a certain idea or condition
3. To provide a formal statement based on personal knowledge, often in trials ; to serve as an indication or confirmation of a particular fact or reality

Etymology: "Testifies" is the third-person singular form of "testify", so the verb's history is what matters here. The root is Latin "testis", meaning "witness", which is also the source of "testimony" and "attest". The Latin verb "testificari" combined that noun with "facere", "to make", so its literal sense was roughly "to make a witness" or "to bear witness". That Latin verb passed into Old French as "testifier", and English took it up in the Middle English period as "testifien". The verb's meaning has stayed close to its origin. Someone who testifies in court is literally acting as a witness, and the sense of a thing "testifying" to a fact, as in a scar testifying to an old injury, extends that idea of witnessing to objects and events that show the truth of something without speaking at all.

Synonyms: witness, declare, attest, report, prove

Antonyms: deny, disprove, refute, obscure