Prove vs Improve - What's the difference?
prove | improve |
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)
(lb) To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).
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*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (lb) To become better.
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*:“My Continental prominence is improving ,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
(lb) To disprove or make void; to refute.
*(William Tyndale) (1494-1536)
*:Neither can any of them make so strong a reason which another cannot improve .
(lb) To disapprove of; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure.
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:(Chapman)
*(William Tyndale) (1494-1536)
*:When he rehearsed his preachings and his doing unto the high apostles, they could improve nothing.
(lb) To use or employ to good purpose; to turn to profitable account.
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*(Isaac Barrow) (1630-1677)
*:We shall especially honour God by improving diligently the talents which God hath committed to us.
*(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
*:a hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved
*(William Blackstone) (1723-1780)
*:The court seldom fails to improve the opportunity.
*(Isaac Watts) (1674-1748)
*:How doth the little busy bee / Improve each shining hour.
*(George Washington) (1732-1799)
*:True policy, as well as good faith, in my opinion, binds us to improve the occasion.
In transitive terms the difference between prove and improve
is that prove is to put to the test, to make trial of while improve is to make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).In intransitive terms the difference between prove and improve
is that prove is to turn out; to manifest while improve is to become better.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
*improve
English
Alternative forms
* emprove (obsolete)Verb
(improv)Engineers of a different kind, passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
