proven

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈpɹu.vn̩/ UK /ˈpɹuː.vn̩/ See IPA manual

Freq #5487

Meanings

1

adj
Shown to be true, effective, or reliable.

It is a proven fact that exercise improves health.
2

verb
Past participle of prove.

The claim has not yet been proven.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · shown to be true,... proved

Opposites

disproven unproven

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…

probō Latin probus Latin *pro-bʰuH-s Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# proven

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈpɹu.vn̩/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpɹuː.vn̩/
**Frequency rank:** 5487

## Meanings
1. Shown to be true, effective, or reliable.
2. Past participle of prove.

## Examples
- It is a proven fact that exercise improves health.
- The claim has not yet been proven.

## Antonyms
- disproven
- unproven

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: probō
- Root: probus
- Root: *pro-bʰuH-s

## 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…

## AI Etymology
Proven comes 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. The historical chain includes probō (la-lat), probus (Latin), *pro-bʰuH-s (Proto-Indo-European). In present-day English it covers shown to be true, effective, or reliable and past participle of prove.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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