Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To establish the truth or validity of (something) by the presentation of argument or evidence.
  • intransitive verb To demonstrate the reality of (something).
  • intransitive verb To show (oneself) to be what is specified or to have a certain characteristic.
  • intransitive verb To establish by the required amount of evidence.
  • intransitive verb To establish the authenticity of (a will).
  • intransitive verb To demonstrate the validity of (a hypothesis or proposition).
  • intransitive verb To verify (the result of a calculation).
  • intransitive verb To subject (a gun, for instance) to a test.
  • intransitive verb Printing To make a sample impression of (type); proof.
  • intransitive verb Archaic To find out or learn (something) through experience.
  • intransitive verb To be shown to be such; turn out.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To try by experiment, or by a test or standard; test; make trial of; put to the test: as, to prove the strength of gunpowder; to prove the contents of a vessel by comparing it with a standard measure.
  • To render certain; put out of doubt (as a proposition) by adducing evidence and argumentation; show; demonstrate.
  • To establish the authenticity or validity of; obtain probate of: as, to prove a will. See probate.
  • To have personal experience of; experience; enjoy or suffer.
  • In arithmetic, to ascertain or demonstrate the correctness of (an operation or result) by a calculation in the nature of a check: as, to prove a sum.
  • In printing, to take a proof of.
  • Synonyms To verify, justify, confirm, substantiate, make good, manifest.
  • To make trial; essay.
  • To be found or ascertained to be by experience or trial; be ascertained or shown by the event or something subsequent; turn out to be: as, the report proves to be true; to prove useful or wholesome; to prove faithful or treacherous.
  • Hence To become; be.
  • To succeed; turn out well.
  • To thrive; be with young: generally said of cattle.
  • noun An obsolete form of proof.
  • In homeopathic practice, to test the therapeutic action of (a drug) by observing the symptoms following its administration in appreciable amounts to persons in health.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To make trial; to essay.
  • intransitive verb To be found by experience, trial, or result; to turn out to be
  • intransitive verb obsolete To succeed; to turn out as expected.
  • transitive verb To try or to ascertain by an experiment, or by a test or standard; to test
  • transitive verb To evince, establish, or ascertain, as truth, reality, or fact, by argument, testimony, or other evidence.
  • transitive verb To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify.
  • transitive verb To gain experience of the good or evil of; to know by trial; to experience; to suffer.
  • transitive verb (Arith.) To test, evince, ascertain, or verify, as the correctness of any operation or result; thus, in subtraction, if the difference between two numbers, added to the lesser number, makes a sum equal to the greater, the correctness of the subtraction is proved.
  • transitive verb (Printing) To take a trial impression of; to take a proof of.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Simple past of proove.
  • verb transitive To demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for.
  • verb intransitive To turn out; to manifest.
  • verb copulative To turn out to be.
  • verb transitive To put to the test, to make trial of.
  • verb archaic To experience

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb increase in volume
  • verb be shown or be found to be
  • verb obtain probate of
  • verb prove formally; demonstrate by a mathematical, formal proof
  • verb cause to puff up with a leaven
  • verb provide evidence for

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English proven, from Old French prover, from Latin probāre, to test, from probus, good; see per in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Simple past form of proove, conjugated in the Germanic strong declension, on the pattern of choosechose.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English proven, from Old English prōfian ("to esteem, regard as, evince, try, prove"), from Late Latin probō ("test, try, examine, approve, show to be good or fit, prove", v), from probus ("good, worthy, excellent"), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bhwo- (“being in front, prominent”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-, *per- (“toward”) + Proto-Indo-European *bhu- (“to be”). Influenced by Old French prover, from the same Latin source. Displaced native Middle English sothen ("to prove"), from Old English sōþian ("to prove"). More at for, be, soothe.

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Examples

  • They write letters to prove that they "don't count," and they _prove it_. '

    The Convert Elizabeth Robins 1907

  • It is said of kings and rulers, they must prove that they have a heart, and it may also be said of the man who has no religion, that _he must prove_ that he has a _conscience.

    Public School Education Michael M��ller 1862

  • The word prove is usually reserved for mathematics: “to verify the correctness or validity of by mathematical demonstration or arithmetical proof” Random House Unabridged Dictionary.

    The Sacred Promise Phd Gary E. Schwartz 2011

  • The word prove is usually reserved for mathematics: “to verify the correctness or validity of by mathematical demonstration or arithmetical proof” Random House Unabridged Dictionary.

    The Sacred Promise Phd Gary E. Schwartz 2011

  • The word prove is usually reserved for mathematics: “to verify the correctness or validity of by mathematical demonstration or arithmetical proof” Random House Unabridged Dictionary.

    The Sacred Promise Phd Gary E. Schwartz 2011

  • The word prove is usually reserved for mathematics: “to verify the correctness or validity of by mathematical demonstration or arithmetical proof” Random House Unabridged Dictionary.

    The Sacred Promise Phd Gary E. Schwartz 2011

  • Beck, Limpballs and Malkin prove just how evil and cold blooded they are.

    Think Progress » POLL: More Than 70% Of Iraq And Afghanistan Veterans Comfortable Serving Alongside Openly Gay Troops 2010

  • What im saying isnt to give up on this now, but to freakin prove me wrong.

    EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Really interesting viewing here… 2009

  • When people use the words “Smoot-Hawley” today, they usually mean them as a warning that any interference with trade, especially by the United States, could again prove disastrous.

    China's Way Forward 2009

  • The voyage is long and dreary — let us hope the boat will not again prove leaky — if so — Lithe not Styx — be the River for me.

    Letter 300 2009

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