From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe witness to somethingbe witness to somethingformalSEE to be present when something happens, and watch it happening We were witness to the worst excesses of the military. → witness
Examples from the Corpus
be witness to something• A branch of science, organic chemistry, is witness to their complexity.• We have been witness to the rapid transformation of the neighborhood.• Over a period of just months I was witness to the rapid transformation of a group of peasant women into industrial workers.• At this point I was witness to an extraordinary, moving and almost frightening scene.• Community nurses are witnesses to the everyday health of the population.• Without elaborating, Palermo said commission members would only be witnesses to any accords.• The four pharmaceutical best-sellers are witness to the poor folk who have nothing better to do than watch all-night television.• The crowd believed they were witnesses to an incident of police brutality.• We are witnesses to an obsessive, unwavering process of sorting, labelling, deconstruction and destruction. 