What word means to witness or see?

The word that means to witness or see, on the USCIS reading vocabulary list, is Observe. To observe is to perceive, watch, or notice something attentively, and the verb has two civic meanings on the citizenship test. First, it can mean to keep or honor a duty, holiday, or custom, as in "observe the law," "observe a moment of silence," or "observe Memorial Day." Federal holidays such as Independence Day on July 4, Memorial Day on the last Monday in May, Veterans Day on November 11, Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the third Monday in January are observed by federal employees and the broader public.

Second, observe can describe witnessing legal or civic events: poll watchers observe elections, court observers attend trials, and citizens observe town meetings or congressional hearings. The concept of observing the law connects to the rule-of-law principle that everyone (including government officials) must obey the law, and to the duties of citizenship that include obeying federal, state, and local laws.

Observing elections is the work of nonpartisan election observers, including international monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and party-affiliated poll watchers permitted under state law. Citizens may also observe court proceedings, which are presumptively open to the public under the First and Sixth Amendments. The Sixth Amendment specifically guarantees defendants in criminal cases a public trial, ensuring that the public can observe the workings of the judicial system.

On the reading test Observe may appear in a sentence about holidays, customs, or civic participation, and recognizing the verb in context is the key to understanding such sentences.