v., proved, proved, or prov·en (prū'vən), prov·ing, proves. v.tr.
- To establish the truth or validity of by presentation of argument or evidence.
- Law. To establish the authenticity of (a will).
- To determine the quality of by testing; try out.
- Mathematics.
- To demonstrate the validity of (a hypothesis or proposition).
- To verify (the result of a calculation).
- Printing. To make a sample impression of (type).
- Archaic. To find out or learn (something) through experience.
To be shown to be such; turn out: a theory that proved impractical in practice.
phrasal verb:
prove out
- To turn out well; succeed.
[Middle English proven, from Old French prover, from Latin probāre, to test, from probus, good.]
provability prov'a·bil'i·ty or prov'a·ble·ness n.provable prov'a·ble adj.
provably prov'a·bly adv.
provenly prov'en·ly adv.
prover prov'er n.
USAGE NOTE Prove has two past participles: proved and proven. Proved is the older form. Proven is a variant. The Middle English spellings of prove included preven, a form that died out in England but survived in Scotland, and the past participle proven, a form that probably rose by analogy with verbs like weave, woven and cleave, cloven. Proven was originally used in Scottish legal contexts, such as The jury ruled that the charges were not proven. In the 20th century, proven has made inroads into the territory once dominated by proved, so that now the two forms compete on equal footing as participles. However, when used as an adjective before a noun, proven is now the more common word: a proven talent.
