different between missionary vs witness

English

Etymology

mission +? -ary

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m????n???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m???n(?)??/
• Hyphenation: mis?sion?ary

Noun

missionary (countable and uncountable, plural missionaries)

1. One who is sent on a mission.
2. A person who travels attempting to spread a religion or a creed.

3. (derogatory) A religious messenger.
4. (uncountable) The missionary position for sexual intercourse.

Derived terms

• antimissionary
• missionary position

Translations

Adjective

missionary (not comparable)

1. Relating to a (religious) mission

Translations

See also

• missionary on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Missionary (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Alternative forms

• (archaic) witnesse

Etymology

From Middle English witnesse, from Old English ?ewitnes, equivalent to wit +? -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”), Icelandic vitni (“witness”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?w?tn?s/, /?w?tn?s/
• Rhymes: -?tn?s, -?tn?s
• Hyphenation: wit?ness

Noun

witness (countable and uncountable, plural witnesses)

1. (uncountable) Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.

   She can bear witness, since she was there at the time.

   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV, Scene ii^[1]:

     May we, with the warrant of womanhood and the witness of a good conscience, pursue him with any further revenge?
2. (countable) One who sees or has personal knowledge of something.

   As a witness to the event, I can confirm that he really said that.

   • c. 1589-93, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV, Scene ii^[7]:

     […] thyself art witness— I am betrothed.

   • c. 1786, Robert Hall, A Reverie

     Upon my looking round, I was a witness to appearances which filled me with melancholy and regret.

3. (countable, law) Someone called to give evidence in a court.
4. (countable) One who is called upon to witness an event or action, such as a wedding or the signing of a document.

5. (countable) Something that serves as evidence; a sign or token.

   • Laban said to Jacob, […] This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

witness (third-person singular simple present witnesses, present participle witnessing, simple past and past participle witnessed)

1. (transitive) To furnish proof of, to show.

   This certificate witnesses his presence on that day.

   • 1667: round he throws his baleful eyes / That witness'd huge affliction and dismay — John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1 ll. 56-7
2. (transitive) To take as evidence.
3. (transitive) To see or gain knowledge of through experience.

   He witnessed the accident.

   • 1801, Robert Hall, On Modern Infidelity

     This is but a faint sketch of the incalculable calamities and horrors we must expect, should we be so unfortunate as ever to witness the triumph of modern infidelity

   • 1803 (first published), John Marshall, The Life of George Washington

     General Washington did not live to witness the restoration of peace.

4. (intransitive, construed with to or for) To present personal religious testimony; to preach at (someone) or on behalf of.
   • 1998, "Niebuhr, Reinhold", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, volume 6, page 842

     Instead, Niebuhr's God was the God witnessed to in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, the Bible of the Christian world.

5. To see the execution of (a legal instrument), and subscribe it for the purpose of establishing its authenticity.

   to witness a bond or a deed

Synonyms

• certify

Translations

Anagrams

• wisents