prove
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: pro͞ov
ipa: /pɹuːv/
rhymes: -uːv
Forms: form: proves
form: proving
form: proved
form: proved
form: proven
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: prove
form: prove
form: proved
form: prove
form: provest
form: proved
form: provedst
form: proves
form: proveth
form: proved
form: prove
form: proved
form: prove
form: proved
form: prove
form: -
form: proving
form: proved
form: proven
form: proove
Etymology: From Middle English proven, from Old English prōfian (“to esteem, regard as, evince, try, prove”) and Old French prover (“to prove”), both from Latin probō (“test, try, examine, approve, show to be good or fit, prove”, verb), from probus (“good, worthy, excellent”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰuH-s (“being in front, prominent”), from *pro-, *per- (“toward”) + *bʰuH- (“to be”). Displaced native Middle English sothen (“to prove”), from Old English sōþian (“to prove”). Doublet of probe. More at for, be, soothe.
Senses: examples: text: [VV]e are able with playne demonſtration to proue, and vvith reaſon to perſvvade that in tymes paſt our fayth vvas alike, that then vve preached thinges correſpondent vnto the forme of faith already published of vs, ſo that none in this behalfe can repyne or gaynesay vs.
ref: 1577, Socrates Scholasticus [i.e., Socrates of Constantinople], “Constantinus the Emperour Summoneth the Nicene Councell, it was Held at Nicæa a Citie of Bythnia for the Debatinge of the Controuersie about the Feast of Easter, and the Rootinge out of the Heresie of Arius”, in Eusebius Pamphilus, Socrates Scholasticus, Evagrius Scholasticus, Dorotheus, translated by Meredith Hanmer, The Avncient Ecclesiasticall Histories of the First Six Hundred Yeares after Christ, Wrytten in the Greeke Tongue by Three Learned Historiographers, Eusebius, Socrates, and Euagrius. …, book I (The First Booke of the Ecclesiasticall Historye of Socrates Scholasticvs), imprinted at London: By Thomas Vautroullier dwelling in the Blackefriers by Ludgate, →OCLC, page 225:
text: Mr. H …, whom no distinctions of that sort seemed to disturb, scarce gave himself or me breathing time from the last encounter, but, as if he had task'd himself to prove that the appearances of his vigour were not signs hung out in vain, in a few minutes he was in a condition for renewing the onset
ref: 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:
english: Fanny Hill
translation: Fanny Hill
text: Valentine’s Day means different things for different people. For Homer, it means forking over a hundred dollars for a dusty box of chocolates at the Kwik-E-Mart after characteristically forgetting the holiday yet again. For Ned, it’s another opportunity to prove his love for his wife. Most germane to the episode, for Lisa, Valentine’s Day means being the only person in her entire class to give Ralph a Valentine after noticing him looking crestfallen and alone at his desk.
ref: 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2012:
text: WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.
ref: 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:
text: “The commission is not set up to disprove or to prove President Trump’s claim, nor is it just looking at the 2016 election. We’re looking at all forms of election irregularities, voter fraud, voter registration fraud, voter intimidation, suppression, and looking at the vulnerabilities of the various elections we have in each of the 50 states,” Kobach told “New Day” co-host Chris Cuomo.
ref: 2017 May 15, David Wright, “Kobach: ‘Election integrity’ panel ‘not set up to prove or to disprove’ Trump”, in CNN:
text: Importantly, the hypothesis cannot be proven to be true—it can only be proven to be false.
ref: 2025, Larry V. Hedges, Elizabeth Tipton, Designing Small Evaluation Studies, page 302:
text: I will prove that my method is more effective than yours.
glosses: To demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for; to bear out; to testify.
examples: text: It proved to be a cold day.
glosses: To turn out; to manifest.
examples: text: Have an exit strategy should your calculations prove incorrect.
text: But ſhall I prooue a traitor to my King?
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
text: This battle did not take place in the streets. It took place entirely in words, and it was to prove the turning point in the war.
ref: 1964, Jean Merrill, The Pushcart War, 2014 The New York Review Children's Collection edition, chapter 33, page 199
text: He met Luis Suarez's cross at the far post, only for Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to show brilliant reflexes to deflect his header on to the bar. Carroll turned away to lead Liverpool's insistent protests that the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and assistant referee Andrew Garratt waved play on, with even a succession of replays proving inconclusive.
ref: 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: To turn out to be.
examples: text: They took the experimental car to the proving-grounds.
text: The exception proves the rule.
text: Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee,
Till then not show my head where thou may'st prove me.
ref: 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 26”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
text: Wounded and overthrown, the Britons continued their resistance, clung round the legs of the Norman steeds, and cumbered their advance; while their brethren, thrusting with pikes, proved every joint and crevice of the plate and mail, or grappling with the men-at-arms, strove to pull them from their horses by main force, or beat them down with their bills and Welch hooks.
ref: 1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume I (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 71:
glosses: To put to the test, to make trial of.
examples: to prove a will
glosses: To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify.
examples: text: Where she, captived long, great woes did prove.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 34:
glosses: To experience.
examples: to prove a page
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: To take a trial impression of; to take a proof of.
glosses: Alternative form of proof (“allow (dough) to rise; test the activeness of (yeast); pressure-test (a firearm)”).
topics: homeopathy
medicine
sciences
glosses: To determine by experiment which effects a substance causes when ingested.
Derived terms: disprovability
disprovable
disprovably
disprove
disproved
disproven
exception that proves the rule
fend and prove
provability
provable
provably
prove oneself
prove out
prover
proving ground
unprovability
unprovable
unprovably
unprove
unproved
unproven
until proven otherwise
Related terms: approve
probe
probity
proof
the exception proves the rule