Meaning & use
character witness in court
Last updated
Meaning
phrasecountablelegallaw
a person who tells a court about someone's good character, usually to help that person in a criminal case
Grammar: Used as a countable noun phrase: a character witness in court, two character witnesses in court.
Patterns
- call someone as a character witness in court
- act as a character witness in court
- a character witness in court for someone
The defense called his former employer as a character witness in court.
She appeared as a character witness in court and described him as honest and reliable.
A character witness in court is not there to argue about the facts of the crime.
Word forms
| plural | character witnesses in court |
|---|
Common combinations
- call someone as a character witness
- The lawyer decided to call the neighbor as a character witness.
- act as a character witness
- His coach agreed to act as a character witness in court.
- testify as a character witness
- She was asked to testify as a character witness for the defendant.
- a good character witness
- A longtime friend can be a good character witness.
Synonyms and how they differ
- witness
- Witness is much more general; a character witness is a specific type of witness who speaks about reputation, not events.
- expert witness
- An expert witness gives professional opinions about technical matters, while a character witness speaks about a person's character.
Word family
- character evidence noun
- evidence about a person's reputation or personality, often given by a character witness
- witness noun
- a person who gives evidence in court
Commonly confused: character witness in court or expert witness?
character witness in court vs expert witness
An expert witness has special knowledge and gives technical opinions; a character witness speaks about someone's reputation and honesty.
Practice
The defense lawyer asked the defendant's old teacher to appear as a ___ in court.
Choose one answer.
"Character witness" fits because the teacher would speak about the defendant's good character. "Expert witness" is wrong because a teacher is not giving technical or professional opinions about the case.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “character witness in court”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.