proof
UK /pɹuːf/ · US /pɹuf/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun
- noun (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.”
- noun (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.
- noun 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.
- noun (obsolete) Experience of something.
- noun (uncountable, obsolete) Firmness of mind; stability not to be shaken.
- noun (countable, printing) A proof sheet; a trial impression, as from type, taken for correction or examination.
- noun (numismatics) A limited-run high-quality strike of a particular coin, originally as a test run, although nowadays mostly for collectors' sets.
- noun (countable, logic, mathematics) 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.
- adjective Used in proving or testing. “a proof load; a proof charge”
- adjective Firm or successful in resisting. “proof against harm”
- adjective (of alcoholic liquors) Being of a certain standard as to alcohol content. “60% proof liquor”
- verb (transitive, intransitive, colloquial) To proofread.
- verb (transitive) To make resistant, especially to water.
- verb (transitive, firearms) 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.
- verb (transitive, baking) To allow (yeast-containing dough) to rise, especially after it has been shaped “dough proofing”
- verb (transitive, baking) To test the activeness of (yeast). “yeast proofing”
- proper noun The 98th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
Synonyms
testament testimony bloom rehydrate cogent evidence test copy trial impression validation substantiation proofread
Antonyms
Etymology
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth; an act of testing; a test; a trial.
- noun That degree of evidence which convinces the mind of any truth or fact, and produces belief; a test by facts or arguments that induce, or tend to induce, certainty of the judgment; conclusive evidence; demonstration.
- adjective Used in proving or testing; as, a proof load, or proof charge.
- adjective Firm or successful in resisting; as, proof against harm; waterproof; bombproof.
Etymology [OF. prove, proeve, F. preuve, fr. L. proba, fr. probare to prove. See Prove.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “proof”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details