Prove vs Imply - What's the difference?
prove | imply |
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= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)
, volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= 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= To put to the test, to make trial of.
To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify.
(archaic) To experience
* Spenser
(printing, dated, transitive) To take a trial impression of; to take a proof of.
(proove)
(of a proposition) to have as a necessary consequence
(of a person) to suggest by logical inference
(of a person or proposition) to hint; to insinuate; to suggest tacitly and avoid a direct statement
(archaic) to enfold, entangle.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.iv:
In archaic terms the difference between prove and imply
is that prove is to experience while imply is to enfold, entangle.As verbs the difference between prove and imply
is that prove is to demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for while imply is to have as a necessary consequence.prove
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) proven, from (etyl) . More at (l), (l), (l).Alternative forms
* prooveVerb
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.}}
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.}}
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 prove a will
- Where she, captived long, great woes did prove .
- 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 * unprovenEtymology 2
Simple past form of proove, conjugated in the Germanic strong declension, on the pattern of choose ? chose.Verb
(head)Statistics
*imply
English
Verb
(en-verb)- The proposition that "all dogs are mammals" implies that my dog is a mammal
- When I state that your dog is brown, I am not implying that all dogs are brown
- What do you mean "we need to be more careful with hygiene"? Are you implying that I don't wash my hands?
- And in his bosome secretly there lay / An hatefull Snake, the which his taile vptyes / In many folds, and mortall sting implyes .