perjured
Meaning
Describing a person who has committed perjury; having sworn a false oath or given false testimony.
To have made oneself guilty of perjury; to have lied under oath.
Structure
Usage
The witness was found to be perjured and was charged with lying to the court.
He perjured himself during the trial in a desperate attempt to avoid conviction.
Her perjured testimony undermined the entire case.
Etymology
The word 'perjured' is built upon the Latin verb perjurare, meaning "to swear falsely," which itself is a compound of the intensive prefix per- ("thoroughly") and jurare ("to swear"). The root jus/jur- carries the fundamental concept of law and oath, tracing back to Proto-Indo-European yewes- meaning "law." The literal sense is thus "to swear thoroughly," but with the negative connotation of swearing a complete falsehood. The addition of the English past participle suffix -ed creates an adjective and verb form that specifically denotes the state or action of having violated a formal oath before a legal authority.
Analysis
per: Latin origin, meaning "through, thoroughly". It functions as an intensive prefix. jur: Latin origin, from jus, juris meaning "law, right, oath". It functions as the core root. ed: Old English origin, a suffix used to form the past tense and past participle of verbs, and adjectives from nouns/verbs.