probative
[proh-buh-tiv, prob-uh-]
- serving or designed for testing or trial.
- affording proof or evidence.
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Also pro·ba·to·ry [proh-buh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /ˈproʊ bəˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/.
Origin of probative
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for probative
Contemporary Examples
Can we eagerly look forward to academic investigation of vampires or probative studies of alien abductions?
Historical Examples
Ap′probatory, Ap′probative, of or belonging to one who approves.
Let a sufficient amount of probative evidence be addressed to the eye, the act of believing must follow.
The Gospel of St. JohnFrederick Denison Maurice
The second clause, relating to instances in which the phenomenon is absent, depends for its probative force upon Prop.
LogicCarveth Read
Certainly, there seems to be some illusion in the common belief in the probative force of prediction.
LogicCarveth Read
But Quintilian has less faith in the probative value of fictitious examples than he has in those drawn from authentic history.
Rhetoric and Poetry in the RenaissanceDonald Lemen Clark
probative
probatory (ˈprəʊbətərɪ, -trɪ)
- serving to test or designed for testing
- providing proof or evidence
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Word Origin
C15: from Late Latin probātīvus concerning proof
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for probative
adj.
mid-15c., from Latin probativus "belonging to proof," from probat-, past participle stem of probare (see prove).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper