affidavit

From Medieval Latin affidavit (“he has sworn”), the third person singular perfect tense of affido (“swear”), from fīdō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ- (“to command, to persuade, to trust”). Cognate to fidelity and faith (same Latin root), but not to affirm (shared Latin ad- prefix, but different Latin and Proto-Indo-European roots).

• IPA^(key): /ˌæfɪˈdeɪvɪt/, (Philippines, nonstandard) /-ævɪt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: af‧fi‧da‧vit
• Rhymes: -eɪvɪt, (Philippines) -ævɪt

affidavit (plural affidavits)

1. (law) A signed document wherein an affiant makes a sworn statement.

   Synonyms: sworn statement, deposition, oath, testimony

   He submitted his affidavit rather than appearing to testify in court.

   • 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 170:

     Lee's case is urgent. He has to file an immediate affidavit that he is suffering from bubonic plague to avoid eviction from the house he has occupied ten years without paying the rent.

   • 1984 December 8, “Pressing Records”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 21, page 2:

     All lifters were certified by affidavit and polygraph to be steroid free.

   • 2024 September 24, Adria R Walker, “Haitian immigrant group calls for arrest warrants for Trump and Vance in Ohio”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     “Trump and Vance have knowingly spread a false and dangerous narrative by claiming that Springfield, Ohio’s Haitian community is criminally killing and eating neighbors’ dogs and cats, and killing and eating geese,” the affidavit reads.

An affidavit differs from a deposition in that it is usually a written statement made voluntarily and outside of court, whereas a deposition involves oral testimony given under oath during legal proceedings. Testimony includes statements of fact that may or may not be made under oath.

• affidavit man
• evidentiary abuse affidavit

affidavit (third-person singular simple present affidavits, present participle affidaviting, simple past and past participle affidavited)

1. (law) To swear by such a document.

• affidavit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• IPA^(key): /a.fi.da.vit/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

affidavit m (plural affidavits)

1. affidavit

• “affidavit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [af.fiːˈdaː.wɪt]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [af.fiˈdaː.vit]

affīdāvit

1. third-person singular perfect active indicative of affīdō (“to swear”)

affidavit m (plural affidavits)

1. (law) affidavit (legal, signed document wherein an affiant makes a sworn statement)