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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ATTEST

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pronounce ATTEST:

uh TEST
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connect this word to others:

Our word attest, which literally means "to bear witness," belongs to a family of words from the Latin testis, meaning "witness."

This testis family includes words like testify, testament, testimony, contest (literally "to call to witness"), detest (literally "to denounce via testimony"), and protest (literally "to testify in front of").

To attest to things is to prove that they're true: to verify them, to give evidence that they're ver_____s (truthful and accurate).

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) 

definition:

"Attest" traces back through French to the Latin attestari, meaning "to bear witness to," and beyond that, to the Latin testis, "witness."

We've used "attest" in English since the 1500s to mean "to prove, to show that something is true."

In other words, to attest to something, or to attest that something is true, is to provide evidence for it.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, often the intransitive kind: "Diet soda is addictive, and I can attest to that."

Also the transitive kind: "The earliest forms of writing were attested around 3200 BC."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "attested" and "attesting."

People who attest to things are "attesters."

If you need a noun for the process or product of attesting, you can pick between "attestment" or, my preference: "attestation."

If you need an adjective, you can use "attested," or a hyphenation like "well-attested," as in "Diet soda's addictiveness is well-attested." Or use "attesting," "attestive," "attestable," or  "unattestable," all of which are rare but easily understood.

how to use it:

Pick the formal, serious, common word "attest" when you want to sound like a lawyer as you talk about things and people that offer proof for some fact or claim.

In casual conversation, we most often talk about people attesting that something is true, or attesting to certain facts. For instance, you might attest to the strength or weakness of something; or attest to the scarcity or popularity of something; or attest to a person's particular talent, skill, quality, strength, or weakness.

We also talk about certain things being true "as someone can attest." For example: "Spam calls have gotten more frequent, as many of you can attest." "As I can attest, when a clove of garlic goes bad, it smells like soiled shag carpeting." 

examples:

"As the families in Sotomo can attest, having mobile internet does not mean you can always get a signal."
  — Pablo Sanhueza, Reuters, 20 August 2021

"The water remained poisonous, a fact attested by the daily deaths of goldfish suspended in cages downstream."
  — Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962

has this page helped you understand "attest"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "attest" without saying "confirm" or "corroborate."

try it out:

Fill in the blank: "I (have some particular quirk or weakness), as people around me will attest to."

Example 1: "I can't help myself from quoting from Futurama, as people around me will attest to."

Example 2: "I'm bad with people's names, as people around me will attest to."
  — John Hanke, as cited by Nilay Patel, The Verge, 14 December 2021




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is Just Joshing: John Oliver Edition!

Flex your creativity and word-finding skills as you fill in the blanks to create your own joke, following the example of the comedian John Oliver. Since the LOLs are in the details, try making your joke as specific (or weird) as possible.

For example, if I give you "The only things you should be buying on eBay are _____ and _____," then you might give me "The only things you should be buying on eBay are pieces of gum chewed by Elvis and unassembled snowmen." (Oliver's actual joke was "The only things you should be buying on eBay are vintage RadioShack swag and a discarded e-meter from the Church of Scientology.")

Try this one today: 

"Let's deal with the car. It is a little disappointing. When I pictured what flying cars would look like in the future, I imagined little rockets with leather seats and drink fridges, not something that looks like _____."

(Source)

To see my crack at it, as well as Oliver's original joke, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. One opposite of ATTEST TO is

A. ADORE.
B. DISPROVE.
C. BRANCH OUT.

2. In Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner wrote that messing with the chemistry of cocaine in the 1970s "could be dangerous. As more than a few flame-scarred drug users could _____, chemistry is best left to chemists."

A. attest
B. attest of
C. attest for




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. A

From the game:

My crack at it: "Not something that looks like Clip Art from 1996."

Oliver's original joke: "Not something that looks like Lightning McQueen got canceled and rebounded by starting his own energy drink company."


a final word:


I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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