Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having been demonstrated or verified without doubt.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Proved: an improper form, lately growing in frequency, by imitation of the Scotch use in “not proven.”

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • past participle Proved.
  • past participle (Scots Law) a verdict of a jury that the guilt of the accused is not made out, though not disproved.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having been proved; having proved its value or truth.
  • verb Past participle of prove
  • verb Past participle of proove

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective established beyond doubt

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Scottish English, as past participle of preve, a Middle English variant of prove – compare woven (from weave) and cloven (from cleave), both of which feature -eve → -oven. preve died out in England, but survived in Scotland, where proven developed, initially in a legal context, as in “The jury ruled that the charges were not proven.” See usage notes for historical usage patterns.

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Examples

  • The argument is in some ways similar to the one President Bush made in 2004, when he campaigned on what he described as his proven leadership in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks and said the terrorist threat called for keeping him in the job.

    Report: Hillary Campaign Plans Closing Argument Centered On National Security And The 1990s 2009

  • Fisher said low-income 4-year-olds could be served by Smart Start, which she called a proven program.

    CITIZEN-TIMES.com - News 2009

  • Schweitzer, whose national profile soared following a widely praised speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, campaigned on what he called a proven record of economic successes.

    greatfallstribune.com - Local News 2008

  • What can be "proven" is always a different matter, but please ... it's utterly daft to think that this is just an isolated ethical "lapse" involving a dozen Interior Dept Bushies in two offices.

    Archive 2008-09-01 2008

  • What can be "proven" is always a different matter, but please ... it's utterly daft to think that this is just an isolated ethical "lapse" involving a dozen Interior Dept Bushies in two offices.

    Your Right Hand Thief 2008

  • No, what I've "proven" is that during the short period of lucidity, Ashcroft may have been capable of resuming his duties and over-ruling Comey -- exactly what Gonzales and Card were there for -- nonetheless, there's no evidence in the record that the legal document left its envelope or that

    Balkinization 2007

  • No, what I've "proven" is that during the short period of lucidity, Ashcroft may have been capable of resuming his duties and over-ruling Comey -- exactly what Gonzales and Card were there for -- nonetheless, there's no evidence in the record that the legal document left its envelope or that

    Balkinization 2007

  • No, what I've "proven" is that during the short period of lucidity, Ashcroft may have been capable of resuming his duties and over-ruling Comey -- exactly what Gonzales and Card were there for -- nonetheless, there's no evidence in the record that the legal document left its envelope or that

    Balkinization 2007

  • No, what I've "proven" is that during the short period of lucidity, Ashcroft may have been capable of resuming his duties and over-ruling Comey -- exactly what Gonzales and Card were there for -- nonetheless, there's no evidence in the record that the legal document left its envelope or that

    Balkinization 2007

  • No, what I've "proven" is that during the short period of lucidity, Ashcroft may have been capable of resuming his duties and over-ruling Comey -- exactly what Gonzales and Card were there for -- nonetheless, there's no evidence in the record that the legal document left its envelope or that

    Balkinization 2007

Comments

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  • It's often useful to assume that people reading your message do not believe what you're telling them. It may not be the case for all of them but it's likely that a good proportion are skeptical. Offer proof wherever you can.

    '15 words that will make you money'

    July 23, 2009