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# The BFD Word of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-bfd-word-of-the-day-986/
- Published: 2022-10-11T17:15:00.000Z
- Updated: 2022-08-07T20:58:27.000Z
- Author: David Theobald
- Tags: General, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-16 22:48

The word for today is…

perjury (noun):

: the voluntary violation of an oath or vow either by swearing to what is untrue or by omission to do what has been promised under oath : false swearing

Source : [Merriam -Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perjury?ref=goodoil.news)

Etymology :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. In the USA, 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.

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