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Own vs Prove - What's the difference?

own | prove | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between own and prove

is that own is to recognise; acknowledge while prove is to put to the test, to make trial of.

In intransitive terms the difference between own and prove

is that own is to acknowledge or admit the possession or ownership of. (Ref 3 while prove is to turn out; to manifest.

As an adjective own

is belonging to; possessed; proper to.

own

English

Etymology 1

(wikipedia own) From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) , (etyl) (m). See also the related term (m).

Verb

(en verb)
  • (lb) To have rightful possession of (property, goods or capital); "To possess by right; to have the right of property in; to have the legal right or rightful title to." (Ref 1)
  • I own this car.
  • (lb) To admit, concede, grant, allow, acknowledge, confess; not to deny.
  • * 1902 , Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness , Tank Books 2007, p. 25:
  • I am sorry to own I began to worry then.
  • * 1913 ,
  • They learned how perfectly peaceful the home could be. And they almost regretted—though none of them would have owned to such callousness—that their father was soon coming back.
  • (lb) To claim as one's own; to answer to.
  • * 1851 , Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
  • I own thy speechless, placeless power; but to the last gasp of my earthquake life will dispute its unconditional, unintegral mastery in me.
  • (lb) To acknowledge or admit the possession or ownership of. (Ref 3)
  • (lb) To defeat or embarrass; to overwhelm.
  • I will own my enemies.
    If he wins, he will own you.
  • (lb) To virtually or figuratively enslave.
  • To defeat, dominate, or be above, also spelled (m).
  • To illicitly obtain "super-user" or "root" access into a computer system thereby having access to all of the user files on that system; pwn.
  • Synonyms
    * (have rightful possession of) to possess * (acknowledge responsibility for) be responsible for, admit or take responsibility for * (admit) confess, acknowledge, allow * (defeat) beat, defeat, overcome, overthrow, vanquish, have, take, best
    Derived terms
    * owndom * own up * owner * pwn * disown

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), .

    Alternative forms

    * (informal contraction)

    Adjective

    (en determiner)
  • Belonging to; possessed; proper to.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.}}
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own .}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you
  • (obsolete) Peculiar, domestic.
  • (obsolete) Not foreign.
  • Usage notes
    * implying ownership, often with emphasis. It always follows a possessive pronoun, or a noun in the possessive case.
    Derived terms
    * come into one's own * on one's own

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) is attested. Etymology] of the German cognate in [[:w:de:Deutsches Wörterbuch, Deutsches Wörterbuch]

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To grant; give.
  • To admit; concede; acknowledge.
  • * 1611 , Shakespeare, The Tempest , v.:
  • Two of those fellows you must know and own .
  • * 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 2, ch. 1, ''Jocelin of Brakelond
  • It must be owned , the good Jocelin, spite of his beautiful childlike character, is but an altogether imperfect 'mirror' of these old-world things!
  • To recognise; acknowledge.
  • to own one as a son
  • To confess.
  • Statistics

    *

    References

    * 1896 , Universal Dictionary of the English Language [UDEL] , v3 p3429: *: To possess by right; to have the right of property in; to have the legal right or rightful title to. * 1896 , ibid., UDEL * 1896 , ibid., UDEL * 1896 , ibid., UDEL * Notes:

    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

    *