proof
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
The degree of evidence which convinces the mind of any truth or fact, and produces belief.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
proofIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹuf
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
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.
countable
An effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth; an act of testing; a test; a trial.
US
A measure of alcoholic strength expressed as an integer twice the percentage of alcohol present (by volume)
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.
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.
The 98th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
adjective
of alcoholic liquors
Being of a certain standard as to alcohol content.
Firm or successful in resisting.
verb
Make resistant (to harm)
“Proof the materials against shrinking in the dryer.”
transitive
To make resistant, especially to water.
transitiveintransitivecolloquial
To proofread.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: 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.
Used this way, proof is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- cogent evidence , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use proof
- “If you have any proof for what you say, now is the time to produce it.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A mixture containing half alcohol by volume at 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
The duty of proving a disputed charge.
Make safe against children.
A course of some impermeable material laid in the foundation walls of building near the ground to prevent dampness from rising into the building.
A proof taken from a form before duplicate plates are made.
A proof taken before the type is broken up to print pages.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: degree of evidence which convinces the mind of any truth
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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.