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prove
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
prove
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an experiment shows/proves/demonstrates sth
▪ His experiment showed that lightning was a kind of electricity.
▪ The experiment proved that fabrics treated with the chemical are much less likely to catch fire.
be proved right
▪ We warned that it would not work, and we have been proved right.
be proved wrong (=be shown to be wrong)
▪ People do not like to be proved wrong.
be/become/prove an attraction
▪ The organisers hope the event will become an annual attraction.
prove a theory
▪ No evidence emerged to prove either theory.
prove a willlaw (= to show that a will has been made in the correct way)
▪ If the estate is small, you may not need to prove the will.
prove an embarrassment (=be an embarrassment)
▪ The publication of the documents proved a severe embarrassment to the company.
prove an obstacle (=be an obstacle)
▪ The weather proved an obstacle, with nonstop rains flooding the field.
prove correct (=be shown to be true)
▪ Fortunately, my memory proved correct.
prove costly
▪ His delay in making a decision could prove costly in the long run.
prove crucial (=be crucial)
▪ His appointment was to prove crucial to the organization’s success.
prove expensive
▪ Their decision could prove expensive.
prove impossible (=be impossible because you have tried but not succeeded)
▪ It proved impossible for the two sides to reach an agreement.
prove irresistible
▪ Tax-cutting proposals could prove irresistible to lawmakers.
prove (to be) unfounded
▪ Sadly, my optimism proved unfounded.
prove unsuccessful
▪ The search for a planet like the Earth has so far proved unsuccessful.
prove usefulformal (= be useful)
▪ This equipment could prove useful in testing babies’ hearing.
prove useless
▪ Police checkpoints proved useless at stopping the suicide bombers.
prove valuable (=be valuable for someone)
▪ This advice was to prove valuable.
prove your/a point (=prove that what you say is right)
▪ He was determined to prove his point.
prove/confirm/establish the existence of sth (=prove that something exists)
▪ The images confirm the existence of water on the planet's surface.
proved disastrous (=was disastrous)
▪ The move proved disastrous for the company.
proved fatal
▪ Disunity finally proved fatal to the rebels’ cause.
proved groundless
▪ Fortunately my suspicions proved groundless.
proved inadequate
▪ The new air conditioning system proved inadequate.
proved prophetic
▪ Lundgren’s warnings proved prophetic.
prove...innocence
▪ Can you prove your innocence?
prove...manhood
▪ Why did he feel he had to prove his manhood in the company of women?
prove...masculinity
▪ boys trying to prove their masculinity
proven ability (=that you have proved through your achievements)
▪ Companies often value the proven ability and reliability of older employees.
proven track record
▪ We’re looking for someone with a proven track record in selling advertising.
prove/support an accusation
▪ There were very few facts to support the accusation against him.
prove/test/support etc a hypothesis
▪ We hope that further research will confirm our hypothesis.
proving ground
▪ High-crime areas are proving grounds for new police officers.
show/prove your loyalty (=do something that shows you are loyal to someone)
▪ He showed great loyalty to his wife during her long illness.
test/show/prove your mettle
▪ a crisis which will test the minister’s mettle
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
already
▪ While only recently introduced, the service is already proving very successful.
▪ Townsend boys got into City almost automatically; they had already proved their mettle.
▪ Conclusion Mrs Thatcher has already proved herself a remarkable figure.
▪ But the first visit has already proved helpful.
▪ He flights the ball well and is already proving to be a master in disguising the googly.
▪ Malarone has already proved highly effective in other trials.
▪ What follows is offered as a tentative approach, but one that has already proved useful to teachers. 1 Fictional narrative.
▪ George Cunningham, who have already proved themselves totally incapable of any future viability by already losing by an embarrassing margin.
right
▪ At his trial Jaggers was proved right.
▪ Unfortunately, as time passes she has been proved right.
▪ In 1996 they will be proved right.
▪ Ironically, the observations of Captain FitzRoy, the orthodox Creationist, had been proved right.
▪ Just because her astrological theories were being proved right.
▪ One day, if only by the laws of probability, the rumours will be proved right.
▪ When Delia Sutherland did at last ring it was three weeks after their meeting and he was proved right.
too
▪ However, a bus service offers an alternative if the going proves too taxing.
▪ His briefcase proved too small to hold all the notes.
▪ But the weighty haul may have proved too much for the raiders.
▪ Within a year or two, the persona of the disaffected hipster would prove too cynical, too alienated to last.
▪ Getting rid of me had proved too much for him and he was now trying to force through a muddled compromise.
▪ The price of making the marriage work proved too high for me.
▪ Perhaps those problems will ultimately prove too great.
▪ But managing franchisers proved too onerous for the founders, so they began looking for a buyer.
very
▪ Relocating an employee can prove very costly.
▪ Finding the skilled opponents, however, proved very difficult.
▪ While only recently introduced, the service is already proving very successful.
▪ Some materials that have proved very difficult to crystallize on Earth can be coaxed to do so in space.
▪ The method has nevertheless proved very useful.
▪ This would soon prove very valuable.
▪ Although the infection cleared up, he was left with a mild diarrhoea that proved very persistent.
▪ Open access with a larger number of smaller commercial companies would prove very beneficial to customers in ways not possible today.
■ NOUN
case
▪ However, this has not necessarily proved to be the case when the time has come to commit the words to celluloid.
▪ That did not prove to be the case.
▪ It is easier to prove your case when you have prepared it along the way.
▪ The prosecution can not prove the case beyond reasonable doubt against either one of them.
▪ Still, he posed several questions that he said proved the plaintiffs' case was utter nonsense.
▪ Make the government prove its case against him if it can.
chance
▪ Alfonso Portillo, who was elected by the people, has to be given a chance to prove himself.
▪ He deserves a chance to prove that he is ready to win on the major-league level.
▪ They hope he gets the chance to prove on Saturday, that he's value for money.
▪ And now, healthier than he has been in nearly three years, he wants a chance to prove it.
▪ Men like you never give women like me a chance to prove we're real, she thought.
evidence
▪ Unfortunately, molecular evidence, which has proved itself useful in other areas of disagreement, has yet to prove itself here.
▪ Geological evidence proves beyond doubt that it is three million years old.
▪ But it need not be that way and there is evidence to prove it.
▪ More geological evidence found later proved the theory correct.
▪ Love is the evidence you need which proves the benign nature of the universe.
▪ No evidence emerged to prove either theory.
▪ Would Stan Gooch please produce some evidence to prove his figures?
▪ I have no evidence to prove who was in the office.
exception
▪ But he was the exception that proved the rule.
▪ The two exceptions prove the rule.
▪ This is the exception to prove the rule.
▪ But such successes were rare: they are the exceptions that prove the rule.
▪ But, this exception proving the rule, notice that the diamond in question was an enormously valuable unique jewel.
▪ That way they could be exceptions that prove the rule rather than embarrass it.
innocence
▪ You have proved your innocence, and you are not on trial to prove that again.
▪ Suspected of murdering his wife, Krane got off on a technicality and is now obsessed with proving his innocence.
▪ Billy the Badger had much more difficulty in proving his innocence, although he admitted to stealing chickens.
▪ He even performed a miracle to prove his innocence.
▪ Nothing she had said or done had altered his rigid beliefs, and she couldn't prove her innocence without betraying Lori.
▪ Kelly proved his innocence by showing police that his fingerprints do not match those of the shoplifter.
▪ Would the contents of the faded envelope finally prove his father's innocence?
▪ This only adds to the dynamism between them as he tries to prove Von Bulow's innocence.
point
▪ It proved a turning point in the war leading to Lincoln emancipation proclamation liberating the slaves.
▪ If this is the case, you should be prepared to prove your point and present a cost-effective alternative.
▪ He does not try to prove points one way or the other, but he does ask meaningful and relevant questions.
▪ The many examples of that provided in these pages help to prove the point.
▪ He needed some nice girl of Anthony's age to prove his point.
▪ The port is conducting studies in hopes of proving the point.
▪ This will prove an important point to bear in mind in the discussions of Chapter 6.
rule
▪ But he was the exception that proved the rule.
▪ The two exceptions prove the rule.
▪ Or could you prove the rules of logic without using the rules to do so?
▪ But such successes were rare: they are the exceptions that prove the rule.
▪ This is the exception to prove the rule.
▪ So much for the exceptions; now to prove the rule.
▪ Mikhail Gorbachev's Soviet Union had once seemed the enlightened exception, but now only proves the bloody rule.
▪ That way they could be exceptions that prove the rule rather than embarrass it.
success
▪ The scheme, which also includes £60 per goal, was only introduced this season and it certainly has proved a success.
▪ At $ 3. 99, a weekday all-you-can-eat lunch buffet proved a resounding success.
▪ In the course of a long lifetime, his bold concept was proved an amazing success.
▪ Their experimental ironclad had proved a great success.
▪ It is proving an amazing success.
▪ There was no doubt that Harry's twenty-first celebration was proving a phenomenal success.
▪ By 1880 there were about a thousand hotels in the scheme which proved a resounding success.
▪ All of which explains why the Domaine has proved such a success.
worth
▪ Employees must forge their own career paths, seek out promotions and prove their worth every single day.
▪ The onus is now on Untaet and the World Bank to prove their worth.
▪ Surface only scratched and the guide has proved its worth already.
▪ Members of the Diet prove their worth by attending constituents' weddings and sitting through endless meetings with colleagues.
▪ But already it's proved its worth.
▪ There would be other gardens, other chances to prove her worth.
■ VERB
try
▪ I feel it and I've tried to prove it.
▪ They used the devices of anthropology, sociology, history, and biology trying to prove that Negroes were inferior.
▪ What was he trying to prove, she asked acidly, his ability to survive?
▪ Every self is an argument trying to prove its identity.
▪ He always tried to prove that there was no computer challenge that he could not resolve.
▪ We were all playing roles in a comedy. l tried to prove to Sonya that withholding herself from me was hypocritical.
▪ The scientist should try to prove the hypothesis wrong.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
breeding/fertile/proving ground
▪ His inspiration fell on fertile ground, prepared by endless repetition.
▪ On their arrival at the breeding grounds, male pied flycatchers find a suitable nesting site.
▪ The position required no athletic ability, but traditionally has served as a proving ground for Mississippi politicians.
▪ The race, the breeding ground, might be missed, both in sporting and traditional terms, should it cease.
▪ The unhygienic conditions of a stable were a breeding ground for all manner of disease and bacteria hazardous to a newborn.
▪ There are 22 events per year, and tracks range from Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground tote Mans.
▪ Where scum settles on wetted surfaces in kitchens, it creates an ideal breeding ground for bacteria.
go to show/prove/indicate etc sth
▪ But Rat, I am going to show you the World.
▪ It goes to show you the gap between reality and virtual reality in military thinking.
▪ It just goes to show you.
▪ James Prior said unemployment levels were intolerable and Norman Tebbit said that he was going to prove that the problem was soluble.
▪ Leese was going to show me another trick.
▪ Which goes to show that the smart guys were right about something.
▪ Which all goes to show what can actually be achieved when an analogue master tape is lovingly transferred to compact disc.
▪ Which just goes to prove, you do have to be a somebody to get ahead in this town!
sb/sth is the exception that proves the rule
▪ Most people our age have finished school, and Mike is the exception that proves the rule.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Can you prove that you were at home at the time of the attack?
▪ Don't trust anyone who turns up at your door, unless they can prove who they are.
▪ He claims the police destroyed records that could prove the officer's guilt.
▪ He wanted to prove that he was just as clever as his sister.
▪ His guilt has never been conclusively proven.
▪ I'm telling the truth, and I can prove it to you.
▪ I would love to prove him wrong.
▪ To prove her point, Garth cites a book by John Quincy Adams.
▪ Until there is evidence to prove any of these claims, we cannot pass judgement.
▪ We're sure Jason took the money, but we can't prove it.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And that may in the end prove inadequate for any unforeseeable expenses.
▪ Employees must forge their own career paths, seek out promotions and prove their worth every single day.
▪ I can only hope I am proved wrong: things have gone too far to turn back the tide.
▪ Meadows' career in acting would prove relatively short, however.
▪ The managers soon recognized they had to prove that they deserved their subordinates' respect and trust.
▪ They both felt that all the preparation had proved worthwhile.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Prove

Prove \Prove\, v. i.

  1. To make trial; to essay.

  2. To be found by experience, trial, or result; to turn out to be; as, a medicine proves salutary; the report proves false. ``The case proves mortal.''
    --Arbuthnot.

    So life a winter's morn may prove.
    --Keble.

  3. To succeed; to turn out as expected. [Obs.] ``The experiment proved not.''
    --Bacon.

Prove

Prove \Prove\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Proved; p. pr. & vb. n. Proving.] [OE. prover, F. prouver, fr. L. probare to try, approve, prove, fr. probus good, proper. Cf. Probable, Proof, Probe.]

  1. To try or to ascertain by an experiment, or by a test or standard; to test; as, to prove the strength of gunpowder or of ordnance; to prove the contents of a vessel by a standard measure.

    Thou hast proved mine heart.
    --Ps. xvii. 3.

  2. To evince, establish, or ascertain, as truth, reality, or fact, by argument, testimony, or other evidence.

    They have inferred much from slender premises, and conjectured when they could not prove.
    --J. H. Newman.

  3. To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify; as, to prove a will.

  4. To gain experience of the good or evil of; to know by trial; to experience; to suffer.

    Where she, captived long, great woes did prove.
    --Spenser.

  5. (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.

  6. (Printing) To take a trial impression of; to take a proof of; as, to prove a page.

    Syn: To try; verify; justify; confirm; establish; evince; manifest; show; demonstrate.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
prove

late 12c., pruven, proven "to try, test; evaluate; demonstrate," from Old French prover, pruver "show; convince; put to the test" (11c., Modern French prouver), from Latin probare "to make good; esteem, represent as good; make credible, show, demonstrate; test, inspect; judge by trial" (source also of Spanish probar, Italian probare), from probus "worthy, good, upright, virtuous," from PIE *pro-bhwo- "being in front," from *pro-, extended form of root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per), + root *bhu- "to be" (cognates: Latin fui "I have been," futurus "about to be;" Old English beon "to be;" see be). Related: Proved; proven; proving.

Wiktionary
prove

Etymology 1 alt. (context transitive English) To demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for. vb. (context transitive English) To demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for. Etymology 2

vb. (en-simple past of: proove)

Related phrases:
WordNet
prove

  1. v. be shown or be found to be; "She proved to be right"; "The medicine turned out to save her life"; "She turned up HIV positive" [syn: turn out, turn up]

  2. establish the validity of something, as by an example, explanation or experiment; "The experiment demonstrated the instability of the compound"; "The mathematician showed the validity of the conjecture" [syn: demonstrate, establish, show, shew] [ant: disprove]

  3. provide evidence for; "The blood test showed that he was the father"; "Her behavior testified to her incompetence" [syn: testify, bear witness, evidence, show]

  4. prove formally; demonstrate by a mathematical, formal proof

  5. put to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to; "This approach has been tried with good results"; "Test this recipe" [syn: test, try, try out, examine, essay]

  6. increase in volume; "the dough rose slowly in the warm room" [syn: rise]

  7. cause to puff up with a leaven; "unleavened bread" [syn: raise, leaven]

  8. take a trial impression of

  9. obtain probate of; "prove a will"

  10. [also: proven]

Related phrases:
Gazetteer
Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "prove".

Captain Nekrasov refused to accommodate me, but his sergeant proved far more generous with the facts.

Accordingly he had, from time to time, accommodated him with small trifles, which barely served to support his existence, and even for these had taken notes of hand, that he might have a scourge over his head, in case he should prove insolent or refractory.

It would be nice if Max proved to be as accommodating, but he doubted it.

Gustave Scott was the accompanist that evening, and it proved to be the choice number of the concert.

He told me that if I thought I was going to prove I was not in love with his wife by staying away I was very much mistaken, and he invited me to accompany all the family to Testaccio, where they intended to have luncheon on the following Thursday.

And remember, when a magistrate has been proved to have falsely accused an innocent person, the law will mete out to the accuser the punishment he wanted to give to the accused.

Chairman read from the statement yesterday that the charge against these men was disloyalty, and that they had affiliated themselves with a party whose platform and program call for an overthrow of this Government by violence, he added that we will prove this beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Is it not a strange infatuation to rank the moments of affliction among the evil events of our lives, when these may prove the very means of bringing back our wandering feet to the path which leads to everlasting life?

Observation, based upon an extensive experience in the management of such diseases, has proved that supposition to be fallacious in every respect, and we would urge all persons afflicted with fistula to have the affliction cured, no matter what complications may exist.

Too much of the raft was aground, however, for this maneuver to prove of much use.

But the waters were full of low-tide shallows where the ships ran aground, and the coastline was confusing because what seemed to be harbors were merely straits between islands and the coast, and what seemed to be straits sometimes proved to be the wide mouths of shallow rivers.

Of course your old allopathist can still fight better than I can, and I still get the headaches to prove it.

Peter, it might prove necessary that I visit you in the near future with regards to certain herbs that you grow upon your allotment patch.

Old Pete to the allotment to witness it, to prove to himself that it had been true.

Hall, the lady mother of the infant, a jolly dame, who happened to be engaged in the shell fish line, took the allusion immediately to herself, and commenced such a furious attack upon the alderman as proved her having been regularly matriculated at the college in Thames Street.