Standard Lemma guide

proven

adj · verb · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: pro͞oʹvən
  • UK: prōʹvən
  • UK: /ˈpɹuː.vn̩/
  • UK: /ˈpɹəʊ.vn̩/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: pro͞oʹvən
  • US: /ˈpɹu.vn̩/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Scotland: prōʹvən
  • Scotland: /ˈpɹoː.vən/
  • rhymes with -uːvən
  • rhymes with -əʊvən
  • CMU ARPABET: P R UW1 V AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having been proved; having proved its value or truth.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • It's a proven fact that morphine is a more effective painkiller than acetaminophen is.
  • Mass lexical comparison is not a proven method for demonstrating relationships between languages.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

past participle of prove

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, participle, past

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

established beyond doubt

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a proven liar
  • a Soviet leader of proven shrewdness

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: proved

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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. Earlier, from Late Latin probō (“test, try, examine, approve, show to be good or fit, prove”, verb), from Latin probus (“good, worthy, excellent”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bhuH-s (“being in front, prominent”), from *pro-, *per- (“toward”) + *bhuH- (“to be”). Morphologically prove + -n.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bengali: প্রমাণিত (promanito) — having been proved
  • Finnish: todennettu — having been proved
  • Finnish: todistettu — having been proved
  • French: prouvé — having been proved
  • Irish: dearfa — having been proved
  • Italian: provato — having been proved
  • Italian: dimostrato — having been proved
  • Italian: comprovato — having been proved
  • Polish: dowiedziony — having been proved
  • Polish: udowodniony — having been proved
  • Portuguese: provado — having been proved
  • Russian: дока́занный (dokázannyj) — having been proved
  • Russian: испы́танный (ispýtannyj) — having been proved
  • Russian: подтверждённый (podtverždjónnyj) — having been proved
  • Spanish: probado — having been proved
  • Spanish: demostrado — having been proved
  • Spanish: comprobado — having been proved
  • Tagalog: diyama — having been proved
  • Turkish: kanıtlanmış — having been proved
  • Ukrainian: доведений (dovedenyj) — having been proved