1. To establish the truth or validity of by presentation of argument or evidence.

2. Law To establish the authenticity of (a will).

3. To determine the quality of by testing; try out.

4. Mathematics

   1. To demonstrate the validity of (a hypothesis or proposition).

   2. To verify (the result of a calculation).

5. Printing To make a sample impression of (type).

6. Archaic To find out or learn (something) through experience.

Usage Note: Prove has two past participles: proved and proven. Proved is the older form. Proven is a variant. The Middle English spellings of prove included preven, a form that died out in England but survived in Scotland, and the past participle proven, a form that probably rose by analogy with verbs like weave, woven and cleave, cloven. Proven was originally used in Scottish legal contexts, such as The jury ruled that the charges were not proven. In the 20th century, proven has made inroads into the territory once dominated by proved, so that now the two forms compete on equal footing as participles. However, when used as an adjective before a noun, proven is now the more common word: a proven talent.