0 to show a particular result after a period of time: --
1 to show that something is true: --
He's so aggressive - it's as if he's always trying to prove something.
Computers have been used to prove mathematical theorems.
[ + question word ] "I lost £30 on the bus." "That just goes to prove what an idiot you are!"
Under the present system, you're innocent until proven guilty.
[ + that ] They suspected that she'd killed him but they could never actually prove that it was her.
2 to show after a time or by experience that something or someone has a particular quality: --
As a newcomer, I felt I had to prove myself (= show I am skilled).
[ + to infinitive ] The new safety procedures have so far proven to be satisfactory.
[ L ] The dispute over rights to the song could prove impossible to resolve.
The present model thereby for the first time proves the existence of the bed-wave-water-surface-wave resonance mechanism of instability.
The attempts by nationalist activists to use soccer as an organizational and symbolic platform again prove the political potential of soccer.
We prove the property for all normalising pure type systems, and discuss the connection with typechecking.
Experts have to prove themselves through their technical competence - which is questionable and revisable (1997 : 89).
Such technical arbitrariness may prove difficult someday when repairs must be made.
Taking the campaign to some parts of the country proved especially difficult for parties without a presence in those areas.
They proved that the formed system of equations is redundant.
But it would prove impossible to deduce a physical theory from such purely formal theorems.
