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prove

Syllabification: (prove)
Pronunciation: /pro͞ov/

Translate prove | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of prove

verb (past participle proved or proven /ˈpro͞ovən/)

  • 1 [with object] demonstrate the truth or existence of (something) by evidence or argument:the concept is difficult to prove (as adjective proven)a proven ability to work hard
  • [with object and complement] demonstrate by evidence or argument (someone or something) to be:innocent until proven guilty
  • Law establish the genuineness and validity of (a will).
  • (in homeopathy) demonstrate the action of (a remedy) by seeing what effect it produces in a healthy individual.
  • [no object, with complement] be seen or found to be:the plan has proved a great success
  • (prove oneself) demonstrate one’s abilities or courage:a new lieutenant, very green and very desperate to prove himself
  • rare test the accuracy of (a mathematical calculation).
  • subject (a gun or other item) to a testing process.
  • 2 [no object] (of bread dough) become aerated by the action of yeast; rise.

Derivatives

provability


noun

provable

adjective

provably

Pronunciation: /-blē/

adverb

prover

noun

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French prover, from Latin probare 'test, approve, demonstrate', from probus 'good'

For complex historical reasons, prove developed two past participles: proved and proven. Both are correct and can be used more or less interchangeably: this hasn’t been proved yet; this hasn’t been proven yet. Proven is the more common form when used as an adjective before the noun it modifies: a proven talent (not a proved talent). Otherwise, the choice between proved and proven is not a matter of correctness, but usually of sound and rhythm—and often, consequently, a matter of familiarity, as in the legal idiom innocent until proven guilty.

prove in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of prove in the British & World English dictionary