Meaning & use
evidentiary hearing
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountablelegallaw
A court session in which a judge listens to witnesses and examines documents and other proof to decide a specific issue before the case ends.
Grammar: Takes a: the judge set an evidentiary hearing.
Patterns
- an evidentiary hearing on something
- hold an evidentiary hearing
The judge scheduled an evidentiary hearing to decide whether the confession was voluntary.
Both sides called witnesses at the evidentiary hearing.
The lawyer asked for an evidentiary hearing on the new DNA results.
nouncountablelegal
A hearing before a government agency or tribunal in which proof is presented to settle a disputed question.
Grammar: Also used outside criminal court: an evidentiary hearing before a board.
Patterns
- an evidentiary hearing before someone
- request an evidentiary hearing
The licensing board held an evidentiary hearing about the complaint.
She requested an evidentiary hearing to challenge the agency's decision.
Evidentiary hearings in immigration cases can last several days.
Word forms
| plural | evidentiary hearings |
|---|
Common combinations
- hold an evidentiary hearing
- The court will hold an evidentiary hearing next week.
- request an evidentiary hearing
- The defense requested an evidentiary hearing.
- full evidentiary hearing
- He is entitled to a full evidentiary hearing.
- evidentiary hearing on
- An evidentiary hearing on the motion begins Monday.
- testify at an evidentiary hearing
- The expert will testify at the evidentiary hearing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- trial
- A trial decides the whole case, whereas an evidentiary hearing deals with a narrower question inside it.
- hearing
- Hearing is the general word for any court session, and evidentiary hearing specifies that proof is presented.
- proceeding
- Proceeding is a broad word for any legal process, with no focus on witnesses or proof.
Word family
- evidence noun
- facts or objects that support a claim
- evidentiary adjective
- relating to evidence
- evident adjective
- clearly seen or understood
- evidently adverb
- clearly or apparently
Commonly confused: evidentiary hearing or evidential?
evidentiary hearing vs evidential
Evidential also means relating to evidence and is more common outside law, while evidentiary is the standard word in court contexts.
Practice
The judge ordered an ___ hearing so that witnesses could testify about the disputed document.
Choose one answer.
Evidentiary is the adjective used in the set term evidentiary hearing, meaning one where proof is presented. Evident means obvious, evidenced is a verb form, and eventual means happening at last.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “evidentiary hearing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.