evidence
Americannoun
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evidence
plural
-
that which tends to prove or disprove something; ground for belief; proof.
-
something that makes plain or clear; an indication or sign.
His flushed look was visible evidence of his fever.
-
Law. data presented to a court or jury in proof of the facts in issue and which may include the testimony of witnesses, records, documents, or objects.
- Synonyms:
- affidavit, deposition, information
verb (used with object)
-
evidences,
present (3rd person singular)
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evidenced,
past participle, past
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evidencing
present participle
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to make evident or clear; show clearly; manifest.
He evidenced his approval by promising his full support.
- Synonyms:
- demonstrate
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to support by evidence.
He evidenced his accusation with incriminating letters.
idioms
noun
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ground for belief or disbelief; data on which to base proof or to establish truth or falsehood
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a mark or sign that makes evident; indication
his pallor was evidence of ill health
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law matter produced before a court of law in an attempt to prove or disprove a point in issue, such as the statements of witnesses, documents, material objects, etc See also circumstantial evidence direct evidence
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(of an accomplice) to act as witness for the prosecution and testify against those associated with him in crime
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on display; apparent; conspicuous
her new ring was in evidence
verb
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to make evident; show clearly
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to give proof of or evidence for
Synonym Usage
Evidence, exhibit, testimony, proof refer to information furnished in a legal investigation to support a contention. Evidence is any information so given, whether furnished by witnesses or derived from documents or from any other source: Hearsay evidence is not admitted in a trial. An exhibit in law is a document or article that is presented in court as evidence: The signed contract is Exhibit A. Testimony is usually evidence given by witnesses under oath: The jury listened carefully to the testimony. Proof is evidence that is so complete and convincing as to put a conclusion beyond reasonable doubt: proof of the innocence of the accused.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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counterevidencenoun
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preevidencenoun
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superevidencenoun
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reevidenceverb (used with object)
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unevidencedadjective
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well-evidencedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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evidencesimple
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evidencessimple
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have evidencedperfect
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has evidencedperfect
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am evidencingprogressive
-
are evidencingprogressive
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is evidencingprogressive
-
have been evidencingperfect progressive
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has been evidencingperfect progressive
Past
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evidencedsimple
-
had evidencedperfect
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was evidencingprogressive
-
were evidencingprogressive
-
had been evidencingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of evidence
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English noun from Middle French, from Latin ēvidentia; see evident, -ence
Explanation
Evidence is anything that can be used to prove something — like the evidence presented in a trial, or the trail of bread crumbs that is evidence of the path Hansel took through the woods. The word evidence is derived from the Latin ēvidēnt-, meaning "obvious." The word evidence shows up frequently in legal documents and dramas, because evidence is necessary proof in linking someone to a crime or crime scene. Evidence is used in many ways to show that something is true, as in "the chocolate stains around your mouth and the crumbs on the table are evidence that you ate the last of the brownies."
Vocabulary lists containing evidence
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Firstly, there are bits of evidence Patterson's lawyers say the jurors should never have seen: for example, mobile phone tracking data that indicated she'd travelled to places where death cap mushrooms were recently spotted.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Scientists are becoming better at identifying the types of rocks most likely to contain early fossils, providing new evidence that can help reconstruct the history of Earth's earliest life.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
Other evidence about mushroom images on a memory card in Patterson's home was wrongly excluded, the lawyer said in an appeal submission in November last year.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Now there is evidence that they could be missing out on hires with a secret superpower: speedy adaptability.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Clara did not need video evidence of her and her sister’s comings and goings and transformations saved anywhere.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
"I think it evidences the fact that there is an ongoing threat in respect of dissident republican activity," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The “rush to seek death in this case evidences strong emotional reactions” by the Utah County Attorney’s Office and the prosecutor whose child attended Kirk’s talk, Robinson’s lawyers said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
So the bias that exists just really means that we have to be very careful in taking small steps to show evidences.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2025
“We have obtained some evidences, even videos showing that the organizer had carried out ‘body checks’,” she added.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 15, 2023
We were five to six thousand feet above sea level now, on a high plateau full of the evidences of recent mountain-building and vulcanism; we were in the Fire-Hills of the Sembensyen Range.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Though most hyperscalers are expected to have negative free cash flow in 2027, “demand and order coverage are improving relative to capex, as evidenced by rising backlog-to-capex and book-to-bill ratios,” the analysts write.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Their reliance on the Manchester City striker is evidenced by the fact they win less than a third of games where he is not on the scoresheet.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
A result even Bayer-Monsanto seemed to doubt was possible after oral arguments, as evidenced by the intensification of their fight on every other available front.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
Resuming energy production isn’t easy, as evidenced by an explosion in Qatar after restarting a gas export terminal.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
In scene two, Sapiens appear, evidenced by a human bone, a spear point, or perhaps a potsherd.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
This finding is backed by neuroimaging data, evidencing reduced connectivity between regions of the brain associated with self-awareness, pain and emotional processing.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2023
When negligence is particularly egregious—either so preventable or evidencing such disregard for the safety of the people affected—it becomes a criminal wrong.
From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2023
I am super proud that is evidencing itself today in our fulfillment margins and our gross margins, with all of these changes we made during what was the most difficult time we have ever had.
From The Verge ● Jul. 26, 2022
A 120-Hz flicker is too rapid for your eyes to detect, but if you wave your hand back and forth between your face and a fluorescent light, you will see a stroboscopic effect evidencing AC.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
These victories of the Catholics, slight in themselves, were powerful as evidencing the direction of governmental policies.
From The War Upon Religion Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-christianism in Europe by Francis A. (Francis Aloysius) Cunningham
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
