Witness vs Prove - What's the difference?
witness | prove |
Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.
* Shakespeare
One who sees or has personal knowledge of something.
* Shakespeare
* R. Hall
Someone called to give evidence in a court.
Something that serves as evidence; a sign.
* Bible, Genesis xxxi. 51, 52
To furnish proof of, to show.
* 1667': round he throws his baleful eyes / That '''witness'd huge affliction and dismay — John Milton, ''Paradise Lost , Book 1 ll. 56-7
To take as evidence.
*
To see or gain knowledge of through experience.
* R. Hall
* Marshall
To present personal religious testimony; to preach at (someone) or on behalf of.
* 1998 , "Niebuhr, Reinhold", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy , volume 6?, page 842
To see the execution of (a legal instrument), and subscribe it for the purpose of establishing its authenticity.
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)
As verbs the difference between witness and prove
is that witness is to furnish proof of, to show while prove is .As a noun witness
is attestation of a fact or event; testimony.witness
English
Noun
(es)- She can bear witness , since she was there at the time.
- May we with the witness of a good conscience, pursue him with any further revenge?
- As a witness to the event, I can confirm that he really said that.
- Thyself art witness I am betrothed.
- Upon my looking round, I was witness to appearances which filled me with melancholy and regret.
- The witness for the prosecution did not seem very credible.
- Laban said to Jacob, This heap be witness', and this pillar be ' witness .
Derived terms
* expert witness * eyewitness * key witness * principal witnessVerb
(es)- This certificate witnesses his presence on that day.
- He witnessed the accident.
- This is but a faint sketch of the incalculable calamities and horrors we must expect, should we ever witness the triumphs of modern infidelity.
- General Washington did not live to witness the restoration of peace.
- Instead, Niebuhr's God was the God witnessed to in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, the Bible of the Christian world.
- to witness a bond or a deed
Synonyms
* certifyAnagrams
*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