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attest

UK/əˈtɛst/US/əˈtɛst/
verbC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,981 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: attested, attests, attesting

To attest is to declare that something is true. Attest to his character, as the records attest, attested by a witness.

It takes to when a person does it and no preposition when a thing does: the ruins attest the fire. Attesting is formal and often written — an attested copy is one certified as genuine. In linguistics, an attested form is one actually recorded rather than reconstructed. Note that the Latin is from testis, a witness.

Definitions of attest

  1. 1verbattestTo declare that something is true.C1

    “Her neighbours attested to her good character in court.”

attest is a declaring true.

Where it comes from

Latin attestari is ad plus testis, a witness. Testify, testimony and protest come from the same witnessing.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *steh₂-

  2. Latin

    attestor — to witness to, bear witness

  3. Middle French

    attester

  4. English, today

    attest

Built from

  • ad · Latin — to
  • testor · Latin — to bear witness
  • testis · Latin — a witness

Borrowed from Middle French attester, from Latin attestor (“to witness to, bear witness”), from at-, combining form of ad (“to”) + testor (“to bear witness”), from testis (“a witness”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

attest in the wild

  • Fragments preserved in Athanasius's De Decretis attest to Dionysius' formidable pre-Nicene affirmation of the Son's eternal generation.

    Pope Dionysius

  • A few artifacts, seal impressions etc. attest that he held sway over a greatly reduced Akkadian territory that included Kish, Tutub, Nippur, and Eshnunna.

    Shu-turul

  • Inscriptions attest the presence of a cult of Aphrodite Hegemone, at Rhamnus.

    Hegemone

  • Myths attest that she and her sisters appear within three days of a baby's birth to decide the child's fate.

    Lachesis

  • According to Kelly, Wulfhun continued to attest until 940, but was no longer in office by 943.

    Wulfhun

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the testor family

testamentdetest

attest — used about once every 7,814 pages · #10,981 · point at the bar for the others