From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishaffidavitaf‧fi‧da‧vit /ˌæfɪˈdeɪvɪt/ noun [countable] law SCLa written statement that you swear is true, for use as proof in a court of law
Examples from the Corpus
affidavit• If you lose the certificates, you can sign an affidavit and still retrieve the will.• She comes up with the figure of 500, signs an affidavit and has a witness sign.• Certain exparte applications are required to be made by affidavit, in which case the affidavit itself suffices as the application.• A federal affidavit links Warren with schemes to purchase 500,000 rounds of ammunition.• In affidavits, Dubuque employers predicted they could use financial incentives to prod workers to use out-of-town hospitals.• Form and content of affidavits Rule 10 of the Amendment Rules 1991 provides for affidavits to bear corner-markings.• A party entitled to enforce the judgment or order may apply on affidavit to issue the necessary process.• Counsel further contended that on the affidavit evidence the debtor has an arguable claim that the solicitors were negligent in two respects.Origin affidavit (1500-1600) Medieval Latin “he or she has made a formal promise”, from affidare, from Latin ad- “to” + Vulgar Latin fidare “to trust” 