evidence
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Facts or observations presented in support of an assertion.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehvuhduhnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɛvədəns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Facts or observations presented in support of an assertion.
law
Anything admitted by a court to prove or disprove alleged matters of fact in a trial.
A body of objectively verifiable facts that are positively indicative of, and/or exclusively concordant with, that one conclusion over any other.
One who bears witness.
verb
Provide evidence for; stand as proof of; show by one's behavior, attitude, or external attributes
Give evidence
transitive
To provide evidence for, or suggest the truth of.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Anything admitted by a court to prove or disprove alleged matters of fact in a trial.
Used this way, evidence is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use evidence
- “The evidence that smoking causes lung cancer is very compelling.”noun
- “His trembling was evidence of his fear.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Evidence providing only a basis for inference about the fact in dispute.
Any factual evidence that helps to establish the truth of something.
Additional evidence or evidence of different kind that supports a proof already offered in a proceeding.
Evidence (usually the testimony of a witness) directly related to the fact in dispute.
Evidence in the form of footprints.
Evidence based on what someone has told the witness and not of direct knowledge.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Pertaining to or constituting evidence.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.