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Determine vs Prove - What's the difference?

determine | prove |

As verbs the difference between determine and prove

is that determine is to set the limits of while prove is to demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for.

determine

English

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Verb

(determin)
  • To set the limits of.
  • * Bible, Acts xvii. 26
  • [God] hath determined the times before appointed.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • The knowledge of men hitherto hath been determined by the view or sight.
  • To ascertain definitely; to figure out.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine . The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}
  • To fix the form or character of; to shape; to prescribe imperatively; to regulate; to settle.
  • * J. Edwards
  • The character of the soul is determined by the character of its God.
  • * W. Black
  • something divinely beautiful that at some time or other might influence or even determine her course of life
  • To fix the course of; to impel and direct; with a remoter object preceded by to .
  • Someone else's will determined me to this course.
  • To bring to a conclusion, as a question or controversy; to settle authoritative or judicial sentence; to decide.
  • The court has determined the cause.
  • To resolve on; to have a fixed intention of; also, to cause to come to a conclusion or decision; to lead.
  • The news of his father's illness determined him to depart immediately.
  • (logic) To define or limit by adding a differentia.
  • (obsolete) To bring to an end; to finish.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Now, where is he that will not stay so long / Till his friend sickness hath determined me?

    Derived terms

    {{der3, determinant , determination , determiner , determinism , determinist , overdetermine , underdetermine}}

    prove

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) proven, from (etyl) . More at (l), (l), (l).

    Alternative forms

    * proove

    Verb

  • To demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for.
  • {{quote-Fanny Hill, part=3 , Mr. H …, whom no distinctions of that sort seemed to disturb, scarce gave himself or me breathing time from the last encounter, but, as if he had task'd himself to prove that the appearances of his vigour were not signs hung out in vain, in a few minutes he was in a condition for renewing the onset}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=August 5, author=Nathan Rabin
  • , title= TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993) , passage=Valentine’s Day means different things for different people. For Homer, it means forking over a hundred dollars for a dusty box of chocolates at the Kwik-E-Mart after characteristically forgetting the holiday yet again. For Ned, it’s another opportunity to prove his love for his wife. Most germane to the episode, for Lisa, Valentine’s Day means being the only person in her entire class to give Ralph a Valentine after noticing him looking crestfallen and alone at his desk.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove , and would cite as they took to the streets. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.}}
  • To turn out; to manifest.
  • (copulative) To turn out to be.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 5, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool , passage=He met Luis Suarez's cross at the far post, only for Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to show brilliant reflexes to deflect his header on to the bar. Carroll turned away to lead Liverpool's insistent protests that the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and assistant referee Andrew Garratt waved play on, with even a succession of replays proving inconclusive.}}
  • To put to the test, to make trial of.
  • To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify.
  • to prove a will
  • (archaic) To experience
  • * Spenser
  • Where she, captived long, great woes did prove .
  • (printing, dated, transitive) To take a trial impression of; to take a proof of.
  • to prove a page
    Derived terms
    * disprovability * disprovable, disprovably * disprove * disproved, disproven * exception that proves the rule * provability * provable * provably * prove out * prover * proving ground * unprovability * unprovable * unprovably * unprove * unproved * unproven

    Etymology 2

    Simple past form of proove, conjugated in the Germanic strong declension, on the pattern of choose ? chose.

    Verb

    (head)
  • (proove)
  • Statistics

    *