proof

UK/pɹuːf//pɹuf/

proof noun: an effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth; an act of testing; a test; a trial.

Noun

proof (countable and uncountable, plural proofs)

(countable) An effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth; an act of testing; a test; a trial.
- I need proof of your unconditional love. Lend me some dough.
- But the false Fox most kindly played his part,
  For whatsoever mother-wit or art
  Could work he put in proof. No practice sly,
  No counterpoint of cunning policy,
  No reach, no breach, that might him profit bring.
  But he the same did to his purpose wring.1591, Edmund Spenser, Prosopopoia: or, Mother Hubbard's Tale, later also published in William Michael Rossetti, Humorous Poems
Antonyms:

disproof
(uncountable) The degree of evidence which convinces the mind of any truth or fact, and produces belief; a test by facts or arguments which induce, or tend to induce, certainty of the judgment; conclusive evidence; demonstration.
- I'll have some proof.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- It was a grand sentence of Emanuel Swedenborg, which would alone indicate the greatness of that man's perception, — "It is no proof of a man's understanding to be able to confirm whatever he pleases; but to be able to discern that what is true is true, and that what is false is false, this is the...1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Over-Soul”, in Essays: First Series
Synonyms:

testament, testimony
The quality or state of having been proved or tried; firmness or hardness which resists impression, or does not yield to force; impenetrability of physical bodies.
(obsolete) Experience of something.
- But the chaste damzell, that had never priefe / Of such malengine and fine forgerye, / Did easely beleeve her strong extremitye.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
(obsolete, uncountable) Firmness of mind; stability not to be shaken.
(countable) A proof sheet; a trial impression, as from type, taken for correction or examination.
- And these men scour the printed proof for error, blunder, and misspelling.2010, Andrea Levy, The Long Song, Tinder Press (2017), page 382
A limited-run high-quality strike of a particular coin, originally as a test run, although nowadays mostly for collectors' sets.
(countable) A sequence of statements consisting of axioms, assumptions, statements already demonstrated in another proof, and statements that logically follow from previous statements in the sequence, and which concludes with a statement that is the object of the proof.
(countable) A process for testing the accuracy of an operation performed. Compare prove, transitive verb, 5.
(obsolete) Armour of excellent or tried quality, and deemed impenetrable; properly, armour of proof.
- Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapped in proofc. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
(US) A measure of the alcohol content of liquor. Originally, in Britain, 100 proof was defined as 57.1% by volume (no longer used). In the US, 100 proof means that the alcohol content is 50% of the total volume of the liquid; thus, perfectly pure absolute alcohol would be 200 proof.

Adjective

proof (comparative more proof, superlative most proof)

Used in proving or testing.
- a proof load; a proof charge
Firm or successful in resisting.
- proof against harm
- waterproof; bombproof
Being of a certain standard as to alcohol content.
- 60% proof liquor

Verb

proof (third-person singular simple present proofs, present participle proofing, simple past and past participle proofed)

(colloquial, intransitive, transitive) To proofread.
(transitive) To make resistant, especially to water.
(transitive) To test-fire with a load considerably more powerful than the firearm in question's rated maximum chamber pressure, in order to establish the firearm's ability to withstand pressures well in excess of those expected in service without bursting.
(transitive) To allow (yeast-containing dough) to rise, especially after it has been shaped
- dough proofing
(transitive) To test the activeness of (yeast).
- yeast proofing
Synonyms:

bloom, rehydrate

Proper noun capitalized: Proof

Proof

The 98th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.

proof meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

proof in Hindi

any effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth: प्रमाण pramāṇ, सबूत sabūt
the degree of evidence which convinces the mind of any truth or fact, and produces belief: प्रमाण pramāṇ
quality or state of having been proved or tried: प्रमाणिकता pramāṇiktā

proof in Tamil

சான்று, அத்தாட்சி, ஆதாரம், சாட்சியம், சான்றுறுதி, மெய்ப்பு

proof in Marathi

any effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth: पुरावा purāvā

proof in Urdu

any effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth: ثَبُوت sabūt
the degree of evidence which convinces the mind of any truth or fact, and produces belief: دَلِیل dalīl

More languagesFewer languages

proof in Bengali: প্রমাণ, পরীক্ষা, প্রতিপাদন, শুদ্ধতাবধারণ
proof in Telugu: రుజువు rujuvu, ప్రమాణము pramāṇamu
proof in Malayalam: തേറ്റം tēṟṟaṁ
proof in Kannada: ದಾಖಲಾತಿ dākhalāti
proof in Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਮਾਣ pramāṇ
proof in Gujarati: ખાત્રી khātrī
proof in Odia: ପ୍ରମାଣ
proof in Sanskrit: प्रमाण pramāṇa, प्रत्यय pratyaya, निदर्शन nidarśana, लिङ्ग liṅga
proof in Sinhala: ඔප්පුව oppuwa
proof in Pashto: اثبات esbāt, ثبوت sobut
proof in Tagalog: patunay
proof in Arabic: بُرْهَان burhān, دَلِيل dalīl, إِثْبَات ʔiṯbāt
proof in Malay: bukti
proof in Persian: اثبات esbât, دَلیل dalil
proof in Thai: การพิสูจน์ gaan-pí-sùut
proof in Vietnamese: bằng chứng

Examples of proof in a sentence

Cantor’s “diagonal proof” shows that the set of real numbers is uncountable.
A singular experiment cannot be regarded as scientific proof of the existence of a phenomenon.
For a complete proof of the Poincaré conjecture, see Appendix C.

All 40 example sentences with proof

Synonyms of proof

Antonyms

disproof

Forms of proof

Noun
plural	proofs
Adjective
comparative	more proof
superlative	most proof
Verb
third-person singular present	proofs
present participle	proofing
past participle	proofed
past	proofed

Plural of proof: proofs

Origin of proof

From Middle English proof, from Old French prove, from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from Latin probō (“to prove”); see prove; compare also the doublet probe.

Phrases with proof

48 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with proof

7 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about proof

What does proof mean?: Proof means an effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth; an act of testing; a test; a trial.
What is proof in Hindi?: Proof in Hindi is प्रमाण (pramāṇ), सबूत (sabūt), प्रमाणिकता (pramāṇiktā). See Proof meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is proof?: Proof can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce proof?: Proof is pronounced /pɹuːf/ (UK).
What is the plural of proof?: The plural of proof is proofs.

Words near proof in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-proof.ogg.

Cite this entry: “proof.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/proof. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.