Cross-examination

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The interrogation or questioning of a witness by the party against whom they have been called and examined, in an attempt to prove or reveal something false or untold during direct examination. countable, uncountable

    "It is impossible to bring them here for cross-examination; one simply has to conduct one's defence and argue one's case against an invisible opponent, […]"

  2. 2
    (law) close questioning of a hostile witness in a court of law to discredit or throw a new light on the testimony already provided in direct examination wordnet
  3. 3
    Any intense period of questioning, especially if hostile. broadly, countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
cross-examcross-questioningexaminationgrillinghearinginquest

Example

More examples

"That was your cross-examination?"

Etymology

From cross- + examination.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.