Proving

How to spell proving

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce proving

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does proving mean?

1. verbDemonstrating that something is true, valid, or genuine through evidence or reasoning.
2. verbLeaving bread dough to rest and rise as the yeast ferments before baking.
3. verbPutting something to a practical test to check its quality or reliability.

Proving in a sentence

• The lawyer spent the morning proving that her client had an alibi.

• The dough needs proving in a warm corner of the kitchen for an hour.

• The factory uses a long track for proving each engine before shipping.

• Collecting receipts is the simplest way of proving the expense to the auditor.

• She covered the loaf with a damp cloth while it was proving.

• The squadron flew over the desert for proving the prototype aircraft.

Where does proving come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb 'prove', which English took from Old French 'prover' in the 1100s and 1200s, itself descended from the Latin verb 'probare', meaning 'to test, to try, or to demonstrate as good'. That Latin verb was built on 'probus', an adjective meaning 'good, honest, or upright', so the original idea was to show that something measures up to a standard. The same 'probare' root gives us 'probe', 'probation', and 'approve', all of which still carry the flavour of testing or judging worth. Over the centuries the meaning settled into two strands: demonstrating that something is true, and putting something to the test, as in trial runs or rising dough. The spelling trap lives in the suffix, because the final 'e' of 'prove' disappears before '-ing', so it becomes 'proving' rather than the incorrect 'proveing'.

How the word is built

• prove (from Latin probare: to test)
• -ing (present participle/gerund suffix); note the silent 'e' of 'prove' is dropped before -ing