Skip to main content

noun

subpoena

a writ issued by court authority to compel the attendance of a witness at a judicial proceeding; disobedience may be punishable as a contempt of court

In a sentence

Six example sentences with subpoena, each labelled with its topic.

  • A subpoena arrived at the accountant's office on Friday, ordering her to appear with the ledgers on the fourteenth.

    Law

  • The courtroom scene turns on a subpoena that forces the reluctant bookkeeper into the witness box against her employer.

    Movies

  • The company received a subpoena for its server logs and had thirty days to hand over records it had nearly deleted.

    Technology

  • The committee issued a subpoena to the former adviser, and he appeared with a lawyer and a folder of dates.

    Politics

  • A subpoena summoned the surgeon to testify about the operation, and the clinic's lawyer rehearsed her answers for a week.

    Medicine

  • The bank's compliance chief answered a subpoena in person, walking the jury through six years of wire transfers.

    Finance

Study subpoena until you keep it

Learn English words in sentences about topics you pick, with a quick quiz. With an account, words come back for review.

Found in these word lists

Found in 7 published word lists

Each source is a published word list that contains subpoena. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.