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
Danielle Wallace, Fox News, 10 Apr. 2024
The Shams brothers also face charges of filing false tax documents, and Ahmad Shams faces two counts of perjury for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury.
—Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee, 23 Mar. 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 4 May. 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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