perjury
noun
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The prefix per- in Latin often meant "harmfully". So witnesses who perjure themselves do harm to the truth by knowingly telling a lie. Not all lying is perjury, only lying under oath; so perjury generally takes place either in court or before a legislative body such as Congress. To avoid committing perjury, a witness or defendant may "take the Fifth": that is, refuse to answer a question because the answer might be an admission of guilt, and the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution forbids forcing a citizen to admit to being guilty of a crime.
Examples of perjury in a Sentence
Faith E. Pinho, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2024
In addition, Mata referred Owens for felony prosecution for violating Arizona's laws regarding perjury and evidence tampering.
—Jimmy Jenkins, The Arizona Republic, 1 Nov. 2024
He was charged with one count of perjury, two of violating the state elections code for not being entitled to vote in an election, and a fourth count for voter-registration fraud, according to a District Attorney’s Office statement.
—Sean Emery, Orange County Register, 31 Oct. 2024
Craig Wright, an Australian scientist who has long claimed to be the creator of Bitcoin, has now been referred to British prosecutors for allegedly committing perjury.
—Vinamrata Chaturvedi, Quartz, 16 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for perjury 
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Cite this Entry
“Perjury.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perjury. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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perjury
noun
Legal Definition
perjury
noun
Anglo-French perjurie, parjurie, from Latin perjurium, from perjurus deliberately giving false testimony, from per- detrimental to + jur-, jus law
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