Word.ws English Dictionary

reproving

reproving is the present participle and gerund of reprove.

Meaning of reprove

Verb (1)

reprove (third-person singular simple present reproves, present participle reproving, simple past and past participle reproved)

  1. (intransitive) To express disapproval.
  2. (transitive) To criticise, rebuke, or reprimand (someone), usually in a gentle and kind tone.
    • Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 9:8
  3. (transitive) To deny or reject (as a feeling, behaviour, action, etc.).
    • She ached to be with Affad again – and to reprove the feeling she frowned and bit her lip.1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 856

Verb (2)

reprove (third-person singular simple present reproves, present participle reproving, simple past reproved, past participle reproved or (rare) reproven)

  1. (transitive) To prove again.
    • As we've just learned, as long as we live in the manifest realm, a hero's journey is never over. We are constantly having to reprove ourselves.2012, Gary Stamper, Awakening the New Masculine: The Path of the Integral Warrior

Adjective

reproving (comparative more reproving, superlative most reproving)

  1. Expressing reproof; reproachful or admonishing.

Noun

reproving (plural reprovings)

  1. The act of giving a reproof.
    • reprovings of conscience

Forms of reproving

Adjective
comparativemore reproving
superlativemost reproving
Noun
pluralreprovings

Words formed from reproving

Questions about reproving

What does reproving mean?
Reproving means expressing reproof; reproachful or admonishing.
What is reproving the present participle and gerund of?
Reproving is the present participle and gerund of reprove.
What part of speech is reproving?
Reproving can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near reproving in the dictionary

  1. reproveth
  2. reprovide
  3. reprovided
  4. reprovides
  5. reproviding
  6. reproving
  7. reprovingly
  8. reprovings
  9. reprovision
  10. reprovisioned
  11. reprovisioning

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reproving (page history and authors); reprove (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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