testament
/ˈtɛstəm(ə)nt
/noun
1A person’s will, especially the part relating to personal property: father’s will and testament...
- Although in principle, testaments and codicils need not differ in making bequests to different groups of legatees, in fact we observe such differences.
- The popular booklet on ‘Wills, Testaments and Estates in Namibia’ is to be translated into eight vernacular languages to educate all Namibians on principles of law pertaining to testaments and wills.
- In her last will and testament she left her assets equally to her husband and her children, being one quarter share each.
2Something that serves as a sign or evidence of a specified fact, event, or quality: growing attendance figures are a testament to the event’s popularity...
- This 1972 short serves as a worthy testament to Larkin's endless imagination and mastery of movement and composition.
- This production of Big Love is a testament to the quality of SFU's theatre program.
- As well as thanking the Royal Hospital for Nigel's excellent care, Sue also wants the marathon to serve as a testament to the courage of her friends.
Synonyms
testimony, witness, evidence, proof, attestation;
demonstration, indication, exemplification;
monument, tribute
3(In biblical use) a covenant or dispensation.The testament / covenant was based on pistis, the trust fund that God established with Abraham....
- Deuteronomy is cast as the last testament of Moses to the people, prior to his death and the entry of the people into the Land under Joshua.
3.1 (Testament) A division of the Bible. See also Old Testament, New Testament.In one sense this is a novelty - to write a work on biblical theology which in fact treats of both Testaments from a Old Testament perspective....
- The question is posed regardless of whether a theology of the Old Testament is explicitly concerned with the relation between the two Testaments.
- In the light of all this, the question of how, precisely, the church ought to understand the relation between the two Testaments clearly belongs among those contemporary theological issues that stand in urgent need of rearticulation.
3.2 (Testament) A copy of the New Testament: he was able to buy a Testament...
- Retelling stories from both the Old and New Testaments, The Brick Testament uses Lego to do the Lord's work.
- Each of the Testaments has its own separate paging; the reference here is to the New Testament paging.
- We might fill India with Bibles and Testaments, and religious books of all kinds, and school-books, at one third of the existing price.
Origin
Middle English: from Latin testamentum 'a will' (from testari 'testify'), in Christian Latin also translating Greek diathēkē 'covenant'.