# evidence
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English evidence, from Old French [Term?], from Latin evidentia (“clearness, in Late Latin a proof”), from evidens (“clear, evident”); see evident.

### Pronunciation

* (UK, US) IPA: /ˈɛv.ɪ.dəns/, /ˈɛv.ə.dəns/
* (US) IPA: [ˈɛv.ɪ.ɾəns], [ˈɛv.ə.ɾəns]
** Audio (US):(file)
* (General Australian) IPA: /ˈev.ɪ.dəns/
* Hyphenation: ev‧i‧dence

### Noun

evidence (usually uncountable, plural evidences)
* Facts or observations presented in support of an assertion.
    There is no evidence that anyone was here earlier.
    We have enough cold hard evidence in that presentation which will make a world of pain for our parasitic friends at Antarctica.
** 1748, [David Hume], Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence.
** 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 18:We find material evidences of magical practices in the European caves of the Palæolithic age[.]
** 2012 March, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 106:Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
* (law) Anything admitted by a court to prove or disprove alleged matters of fact in a trial.
** 2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman:For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.
* One who bears witness.
** 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:infamous and perjured evidences
** 1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 53:He recapitulated the Sybil’s story word by word, with the air of a man who is cross-examining an evidence, and trying to make him contradict himself.
** 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “The Wher-wolf”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume III, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 204:In the mean time, Cluffe had arrived. He was a little bit huffed and grand at being nailed as an evidence, upon a few words carelessly, or, if you will, confidentially dropped at his own mess-table, […]
* A body of objectively verifiable facts that are positively indicative of, and/or exclusively concordant with, that one conclusion over any other.

#### Usage notes

* As a noun, the word evidence is usually treated as uncountable. Thus, enumeration would generally follow a formulation such as, "Five pieces of evidence were submitted. That evidence was highly convincing." It would rarely be expressed as, "Five evidences were submitted. Those evidences were highly convincing."

#### Derived terms

* after-discovered evidence
* anecdotal evidence
* best evidence rule
* circumstantial evidence
* clear and convincing evidence
* counter-evidence
* counterevidence
* demurrer to evidence
* empirical evidence
* evidence-based
* evidence-based medicine
* evidence-gathering
* evidenceless
* evidence tampering
* extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
* hearsay evidence
* inevidence
* in evidence
* neuroevidence
* nonevidence
* preponderance of evidence, preponderance of the evidence
* pseudoevidence
* self-evidence
* state's evidence
* turn king's evidence
* turn queen's evidence
* webidence

#### Related terms

* evident
* evidential
* evidentiary

#### Collocations

* documentary, physical, empirical, scientific, material, circumstantial, anectodal, objective, strong, weak, conclusive, hard

#### Translations
### Verb

evidence (third-person singular simple present evidences, present participle evidencing, simple past and past participle evidenced)
* (transitive) To provide evidence for, or suggest the truth of.
    She was furious, as evidenced by her slamming the door.
** 1941 May, “Notes and News: William Stroudley”, in Railway Magazine, page 234:That he was a great locomotive engineer, it would be foolish to deny or even to qualify; that he was also extremely pig-headed is fairly evidenced by David Joy, who in his 'Diaries' said that Stroudley always wanted his way 'to the last nut and bolt.'
** 1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, pages 250–251:Elegant brick and stone buildings, with iron and glass canopies and decorative wooden scalloping and fencing—all evidencing care on the part of the architect to produce a pleasing, well-planned building—were submerged beneath a profusion of ill-conceived additions and camouflaged by vulgar paint schemes; and the original conception was lost.
** 2022 April 6, Conrad Landin, “ScotRail in the public eye...”, in RAIL, number 954, page 39:"And I think we can do better, and we have to do better, because we need to evidence why public ownership of the railways is going to work for the people who use it.

#### Usage notes

To be distinguished from evince.

#### Derived terms

* evidenceable
* evidencer
* unevidenced

#### Translations
### Quotations

* For quotations using this term, see Citations:evidence.

### Further reading

* “evidence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “evidence”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

## Albanian
### Noun

evidence
* indefinite dative/ablative singular of evidencë

## Czech
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈɛvɪdɛnt͡sɛ]
* Rhymes: -ɛntsɛ

### Noun

evidence f
* records
* registry, repository

#### Related terms

* See vize
* evidenční
* evidentní
* evidovat

#### See also

* záznamy
* databáze
* registr

### Further reading

* “evidence”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
* “evidence”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
* “evidence”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

## Friulian
### Noun

evidence f (plural evidencis)
* evidence

## Middle French
### Noun

evidence f (plural evidences)
* evidence

#### Descendants

* French: évidence