What's the difference between watch and witness?

Watch


Definition:

  • (v. i.) The act of watching; forbearance of sleep; vigil; wakeful, vigilant, or constantly observant attention; close observation; guard; preservative or preventive vigilance; formerly, a watching or guarding by night.
  • (v. i.) One who watches, or those who watch; a watchman, or a body of watchmen; a sentry; a guard.
  • (v. i.) The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
  • (v. i.) The period of the night during which a person does duty as a sentinel, or guard; the time from the placing of a sentinel till his relief; hence, a division of the night.
  • (v. i.) A small timepiece, or chronometer, to be carried about the person, the machinery of which is moved by a spring.
  • (n.) An allotted portion of time, usually four hour for standing watch, or being on deck ready for duty. Cf. Dogwatch.
  • (n.) That part, usually one half, of the officers and crew, who together attend to the working of a vessel for an allotted time, usually four hours. The watches are designated as the port watch, and the starboard watch.
  • (v. i.) To be awake; to be or continue without sleep; to wake; to keep vigil.
  • (v. i.) To be attentive or vigilant; to give heed; to be on the lookout; to keep guard; to act as sentinel.
  • (v. i.) To be expectant; to look with expectation; to wait; to seek opportunity.
  • (v. i.) To remain awake with any one as nurse or attendant; to attend on the sick during the night; as, to watch with a man in a fever.
  • (v. i.) To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place; -- said of a buoy.
  • (v. t.) To give heed to; to observe the actions or motions of, for any purpose; to keep in view; not to lose from sight and observation; as, to watch the progress of a bill in the legislature.
  • (v. t.) To tend; to guard; to have in keeping.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) They had watched him celebrate mass with three million pilgrims on the packed-out shores of Copacabana beach .
  • (2) It was like watching somebody pouring a blue liquid into a glass, it just began filling up.
  • (3) Facial expression, EEG, and self-report of subjective emotional experience were recorded while subjects individually watched both pleasant and unpleasant films.
  • (4) The government has been counting on the fact that their attacks on the NHS are too complicated to be widely understood: after all, their Health and Social Care Act was much longer than the legislation that created the NHS under Aneurin Bevan’s watch in the first place.
  • (5) "We purposely watched it that way - to magnify the experience," Kidman says.
  • (6) Milan’s 4-0 win over Steaua in the European Cup final in 1989 was a great display so I’ve made my players watch the video.
  • (7) I liked watching Morecambe & Wise, I liked the Queen's speech because it was on and everyone listened to it.
  • (8) Yet Malema's influence continues to grow and his travails are watched with interest.
  • (9) Four million viewers tune in to the show every week and two million more watch online the next day.
  • (10) Lessons have been learned from previous Games, not least London 2012, in how to best frame the sporting action for maximum impact – not only for those watching on television but those attending in person.
  • (11) I could walk around more freely than in North Korea, but it was very apparent I was being watched.” The country consistently sits at the bottom of global freedom rankings, in the company of North Korea and Eritrea.
  • (12) The UK is a country we are watching closely on these issues.
  • (13) Russia's most widely watched television station, state-controlled Channel One, followed a bulletin about his death with a summary of the crimes he is accused of committing, including the siphoning of millions of dollars from national airline Aeroflot.
  • (14) But despite gendarmes keeping watch at entrances to the village, one local police officer said there were five times more journalists than security forces.
  • (15) I watch three hours of Smiley, then I have lunch, then I write for a couple of minutes. '
  • (16) I watched as she made the briefest eye contact with me on their way back, the flicker of hurt and sadness in her eyes reflecting mine, before the shutters came down.
  • (17) He said: “Henri is someone the club has been watching for a while and he has developed into an excellent player at Bordeaux.
  • (18) KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE "Having watched 42-year-old Kevin Poole turn out for Derby recently, I wondered 'have any grandfathers ever played league football?'
  • (19) When you score a hat trick in the first 16 minutes of a World Cup Final with tens of millions of people watching across the world, essentially ending the match and clinching the tournament before most players worked up a sweat or Japan had a chance to throw in the towel, your status as a sports legend is forever secure – and any favorable comparisons thrown your way are deserved.
  • (20) They watch the Premier League everywhere in Africa."

Witness


Definition:

  • (v. i.) Attestation of a fact or an event; testimony.
  • (v. i.) That which furnishes evidence or proof.
  • (v. i.) One who is cognizant; a person who beholds, or otherwise has personal knowledge of, anything; as, an eyewitness; an earwitness.
  • (v. i.) One who testifies in a cause, or gives evidence before a judicial tribunal; as, the witness in court agreed in all essential facts.
  • (v. i.) One who sees the execution of an instrument, and subscribes it for the purpose of confirming its authenticity by his testimony; one who witnesses a will, a deed, a marriage, or the like.
  • (v. t.) To see or know by personal presence; to have direct cognizance of.
  • (v. t.) To give testimony to; to testify to; to attest.
  • (v. t.) To see the execution of, as an instrument, and subscribe it for the purpose of establishing its authenticity; as, to witness a bond or a deed.
  • (v. i.) To bear testimony; to give evidence; to testify.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In a poll before the debate, 48% predicted that Merkel, who will become Europe's longest serving leader if re-elected on 22 September, would emerge as the winner of the US-style debate, while 26% favoured Steinbruck, a former finance minister who is known for his quick-wit and rhetorical skills, but sometimes comes across as arrogant.
  • (2) We are already witnessing a wholly understandable uprising of protest.
  • (3) Among the guests invited to witness the flypast were six second world war RAF pilots, dubbed the “few” by the wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill.
  • (4) Maguire's colleagues rushed to her side, some administering first aid while others held her attacker, witnesses said.
  • (5) That’s when you heard the ‘boom’.” Teto Wilson also claimed to have witnessed the shooting, posting on Facebook on Sunday morning that he and some friends had been at the Elk lodge, outside which the shooting took place.
  • (6) Any party or witness is entitled to use Welsh in any magistrates court in Wales without prior notice.
  • (7) Solzhenitsyn was acknowledged as a "truth-teller" and a witness to the cruelties of Stalinism of unusual power and eloquence.
  • (8) Unfortunately, under the Faustian pact we have witnessed a double whammy: fiscal policy being used to reduce government spending when the economy is already depressed.
  • (9) John Carver witnessed signs of much-needed improvement from the visitors in a purposeful spell either side of the interval but it was not enough to prevent a fifth successive Premier League defeat.
  • (10) Two officers who witnessed the shooting of unarmed 43-year-old Samuel DuBose in Cincinnati will not face criminal charges, despite seemingly corroborating a false claim that DuBose’s vehicle dragged officer Ray Tensing before he was fatally shot.
  • (11) He could be the target of more punishing wit, as when Michael Foot, noting a tendency to be tougher abroad than at home, called him "a belligerent Bertie Wooster without even a Jeeves to restrain him."
  • (12) Thanks to the groundbreaking technology and heavy investment of a new breed of entertainment retailers offering access services, we are witnessing a revolution in the entertainment industry, benefitting consumers, creators and content owners alike.” ERA acts as a forum for the physical and digital retail sectors of music, and represents over 90% of the of the UK’s entertainment retail market.
  • (13) The observed complications were post-labor hemorrhage (3.1%), polysystolia (4.1%) and vomiting (5.2%), without significant difference with the witness group.
  • (14) At one, in the Gun and Dog pub in Leeds on Tuesday, a witness described how the meeting descended into chaos when one of the rebels smashed a glass and threatened to attack Griffin supporter Mark Collett.
  • (15) My mother told me not to cry.” He has since witnessed the transformation of Hagere Selam.
  • (16) Imagine witnessing a game of bridge being played in the Cabinet War Rooms in the year 2072 AD.
  • (17) The contrast between the two plans is best witnessed from the small park between the Trade Centre and the 1930s National Assembly, one of the few survivors of the earthquake.
  • (18) Results indicate that 75% of the participating boys and 10% of participating girls had witnessed the shooting, stabbing, robbing, or killing of another person in their own lives.
  • (19) FWA chairman Andy Dunn said: "Those members who have been fortunate enough to be working at a match involving Luis Suárez have witnessed an astonishing talent first-hand.
  • (20) The main pregnancy resolution was vaginal via; only 6.3% of the study group subjected cesarean section against 10.3% of the witness group and the most frecuent indication was stationary dilation (1 and 8 cases respectively).