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disprove

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To prove to be false, invalid, or in error; refute.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To prove to be false or erroneous; confute; refute: as, to disprove an assertion, an argument, or a proposition.
  • To prove not to be genuine, real, or just; set aside by contrary proof; invalidate: as, to disprove a person's claim to land.
  • To convict of the practice of error.
  • To disapprove; disallow.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To prove to be false or erroneous; to confute; to refute.
  • transitive verb obsolete To disallow; to disapprove of.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To prove to be false or erroneous; to confute; to refute.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb prove to be false

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English disproven, from Old French desprover : des-, dis- + prover, to prove; see prove.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English, from Anglo-Norman desprover

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Examples

  • And what no one has ever managed to disprove is the fact that the market can correct itself more effectively than an outside hand, regardless of how many stupid chimps have to suffer in the process.

    Matthew Yglesias » Question for Stimuskeptics 2009

  • Be that as it may, the main problem I have with the view that all apparent errors are problems with the interpreter rather than the Bible itself is that it seems impossible to disprove - in other words, it is unfalsifiable.

    Limits of Literalism James F. McGrath 2008

  • Likewise if Venter should intelligently design a synthetic organism it does not "disprove" the puddle theory.

    Better Bubbles 2009

  • I never claimed this would disprove ID, in fact on many occasions I've mentioned that ID is not science because nothing could conceivably "disprove" it.

    Better Bubbles 2009

  • When I'm feeling especially flippant, I'll add, "Have you scanned nuns brains to 'disprove' the theory than nuns are just religious people?"

    Neuroscience: Don't Be Intimidated, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • The only way to "disprove" it is with a truckload of statistics.

    Debunking Astrology: Mars Can't Influence You | Universe Today 2010

  • Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced Wednesday that they've introduced a resolution to "disprove" the city's law on legalizing pot for medical use.

    Lori's A.M. Buzz 2010

  • Armed with this tool, an ID proponent can "disprove" evolution by simply shifting between the two conflicting definitions without reference to anything about the original structure.

    A Decade Spanning Single Exchange 2008

  • They conflate the Bible with all religious belief; to them - the existence of contradictions or uncertainties within the Biblical text instantly "disprove" all religion.

    Science 2009

  • They conflate the Bible with all religious belief; to them - the existence of contradictions or uncertainties within the Biblical text instantly "disprove" all religion.

    Religion 2009

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