Disprove
Transitive verb
Etymology: from Old French desprover, which is analysable into des- (prefix with semantic implication of “the opposite of”, from Latin dis-) + prover (to prove). Prover is derived from Latin probare (= to test [a thing] as to its goodness)
Third-person singular simple present: she/he disproves
Indicative past, past participle: disproved
Present participle: disproving.
First definition: a. (The subject is a person) to prove (an assertion, opinion, conjecture, proposition, etc.) to be false or erroneous; to demonstrate not to be true; show the falsity or erroneousness of, through disproof. b. (The subject is a fact, an evidence, etc.) to be the disproof of; to be useful to prove (an assertion, opinion, proposition, etc.) to be false or erroneous.
Synonyms: to refute, confute. Deny is simply to declare to be untrue, with no implication of disproof
Antonyms: to confirm, corroborate, verify, substantiate
It may be approximately translated by desmentir, in Spanish; smentire, in Italian; démentir, in French.
Not one of these statements is denied, much less disproved.
Agnes Strickland (Lives of the queens of Scotland)
[…] if I look cordial, it is only that I am so; and I will not try to disprove it.
Frances Burney (Diary…)
[The] object of disproving the calumnies against him.
Jane and Maria Porter (Coming out)
"Well," said Van Valkenburgh, "I will have the body exhumed to-morrow, and when we have disproved the calumny, this scheme of your enemies will do you more good than harm."
Allan Pinkerton (The Somnambulist and the Detective)
[…] could you open the stomachs of these ants and examine the contents, so as to prove or disprove this remarkable hypothesis?
Charles Darwin (More letters…)
It is impossible, of course, to disprove a marriage which we are told was secretly performed, without banns or licence or witnesses.
Jonathan Swift (The Journal to Stella)
I more than half believed, though I affected to disprove her assertion.
Mary Brunton (Discipline)
He did not believe a word of the story, and yet, how discredit or disprove it?
William Makepeace Thackeray (Vanity Fair)
The theory that natural sleep depends on pressure of the brain from blood is disproved by the observations that have been made of the brain during sleep
Popular Science, 1872
It is possible […] that farther research might disclose additional facts, or at least verify or disprove the conjectures we have ventured to make as to the dates of such facts as are known.
The eclectic magazine…
Popular opinion in Spain attributes the superiority of the wool in the merino to these periodical migrations; but this appears to be disproved by the fact that the wool of the stationary sheep is sometimes equally good.
Oliver Goldsmith (A history of the earth…)
Second definition: (archaic acceptation) to prove (a person) to be untrue or erroneous
