Meaning & use
character witness
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablelegallaw
A person who tells a court about someone's good reputation and moral character, rather than about facts of the case.
Grammar: Countable: a character witness, two character witnesses. Often used with 'call' or 'serve as'.
Patterns
- call someone as a character witness
- serve as a character witness
- a character witness for someone
The defense lawyer called the defendant's employer as a character witness.
She agreed to be a character witness for her friend at the trial.
The judge allowed three character witnesses to speak about the defendant's honesty.
Word forms
| plural | character witnesses |
|---|
Common combinations
- call a character witness
- The lawyer decided to call a character witness to support the defendant.
- serve as a character witness
- His former teacher served as a character witness in court.
- a character witness for someone
- She appeared as a character witness for her colleague.
Synonyms and how they differ
Commonly confused: character witness or expert witness?
character witness vs expert witness
An expert witness gives specialized knowledge about the case; a character witness talks about the person's reputation and honesty.
Practice
In a trial, what is the main role of a character witness?
Choose one answer.
A character witness speaks about the person's character and reputation, not about facts of the case (option 0) or expert knowledge (option 1). Option 3 describes a lawyer, not a witness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “character witness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.