demonstration

Noun

demonstration (countable and uncountable, plural demonstrations)

1. The act of demonstrating; showing or explaining something.
   • [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.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...
   1. (slang) A prisoner's act of beating up another prisoner.
2. An event at which something will be demonstrated.
   • I have to give a demonstration to the class tomorrow, and I'm ill-prepared.
3. Expression of one's feelings by outward signs.
4. A public display of group opinion, such as a protest march.
   • It's produced tremendous activism and backlash: there's been all sorts of demonstrations and mobilizations in civil society, there's been examples from the people from the Administration being heckled in a restaurant or not served in a restaurant, there's been a growing crescendo of conversation...2018 June 26, Chris Hayes, quotee, “How bad is it, really? Ezra Klein evaluates life in the Trump era: transcript & podcast”, in Why Is This Happening?
   • Even when there had been hecklers, Victor and other members would focus on setting up their demonstration — signs reading “Let them go now,” and posters bearing the faces of 58 hostages still being held in Gaza.2025 June 3, Danya Gainor and TuAnh Dam, “How a demonstration for Israeli hostages ended in an antisemitic firebombing”, in CNN

   Synonyms:

   protest, march, parade, manifestation

5. A show of military force.
6. A proof.
   • He read the proposition. […] So he reads the demonstration of it, which referred him back to such a proposition,; which proposition he read.a. 1697, John Aubrey, Brief Lives, s.v. Thomas Hobbes
   • If, then, proof from the basic truth is more accurate than proof not so derived, demonstration which depends more closely on it is more accurate than demonstration which is less closely dependent.2021 September 21, Aristotle, The Complete Works of Aristotle. Illustrated: Logic, Universal Physics, Human Physics, Animal Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics and Politics and other, Strelbytskyy...