disprove
Americanverb (used with object)
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disproves,
present (3rd person singular)
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disproved,
past participle, past
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disproving
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disprovesimple
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disprovessimple
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have disprovedperfect
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has disprovedperfect
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am disprovingprogressive
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are disprovingprogressive
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is disprovingprogressive
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have been disprovingperfect progressive
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has been disprovingperfect progressive
Past
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disprovedsimple
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had disprovedperfect
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was disprovingprogressive
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were disprovingprogressive
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had been disprovingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disprove
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French desprover, equivalent to des- dis- 1 ( def. ) + prover prove
Explanation
When you disprove something, you argue against it or give evidence that it's not true. A student falsely accused of cheating on a test will work hard to disprove it. Even though it took years to be acknowledged, Galileo's theory that the planets revolve around the sun managed eventually to disprove previous ideas that the Earth was at the center of the universe. If your friends think your family is ridiculously wealthy, you can disprove this idea by showing them the tiny house you live in and the beat up old car your dad drives. The Old French source of disprove is desprover, "refute or contradict."
Vocabulary lists containing disprove
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:
It’s an idea that some mathematicians believe is true but nobody has been able to prove or disprove.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
Braun argued that the portrayal of his client drinking and racing wasn’t supported by the facts and that there was no evidence to disprove his client’s testimony that he was traveling at 55 mph.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
Most people who tackled this problem tried to prove Erdős’s conjecture, rather than disprove it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026
Third, by demanding that plaintiffs disentangle race from politics, the court asks them to disprove the very structural reality that social network discrimination reveals.
From Slate ● May 22, 2026
Wasting time to disprove Schramm was not to most biochemists’ liking.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
The study also disproves the widely repeated claim that baby rattlesnakes cannot control how much venom they release and therefore inject all of it when they bite.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
For a company that prides itself on entering categories late and defining them, Apple’s AI execution has been the exception that disproves the rule.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 21, 2026
In fact, the history of whaling on its own disproves the central point of “The Killing Age,” that guns were a sine qua non for the making of the modern world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Sala, has denied the sexual assault allegation in comments to the media, saying he has proof that disproves the sheriff’s claim.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
Their argument is simply, that human experience disproves the supernatural.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 86, December, 1864 by Various
The claim can never be disproved because its meaning isn’t fixed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
He said that with closed-circuit cameras everywhere, any allegation of a security breach easily can be validated or disproved.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
The Fellowship’s religious claims are never disproved, history suggests, just yet to be proved.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
Chief among them: statements without clearly defined facts attached, meaning that they can neither be proved nor disproved; statements involving cherry-picked facts; and promises.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 24, 2026
She said it as if to announce a fact that could never be disproved.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
Rather than disproving AI’s potential, this hiring rebound suggests many employers misunderstood where AI creates value.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
"Ryanair looks forward to disproving these false CMA claims during this bogus investigation," it added.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
In time, more evidence may come to light either corroborating or disproving the allegations, but right now, we’re pulling on some pretty thin threads.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2026
Last July the Macrons filed a lawsuit against Owens, alleging that she "disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers".
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2025
Now he was sure that there was a grave misunderstanding taking place, and that unraveling it, disproving it, was going to take days.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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.
