Definitions

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

  • adjective Furnishing evidence or proof.
  • adjective Serving to test, try, or prove.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Serving to test or prove.
  • Pertaining to proof or demonstration: as, the probative force of evidence.

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

  • adjective Serving for trial or proof; probationary

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

  • adjective Tending to prove a particular proposition or to persuade someone of the truth of an allegation.

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

  • adjective tending to prove a particular proposition or to persuade you of the truth of an allegation

Etymologies

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Examples

  • On the final point, rules of evidence, the administration would essentially allow all evidence to be presented if it was what they call probative value or had some meaning to prove a case.

    CNN Transcript Sep 15, 2006 2006

  • Gunslinging is dick-swinging - the dare-ya atmosphere we males know well, what I call probative masculinity.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2010

  • Gunslinging is dick-swinging - the dare-ya atmosphere we males know well, what I call probative masculinity.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2010

  • Gunslinging is dick-swinging - the dare-ya atmosphere we males know well, what I call probative masculinity.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2010

  • What kinds of persons will emerge from a culture of impunity, a culture of gunfighting, a culture of the most extreme kind of probative masculinity?

    Stan Goff: McChrystal & Pelosi 2009

  • Nevertheless, the procedures first issued by the Bush administration allowed the military to exclude the defendant from his own trial, permitted introduction of any "probative" evidence, including statements made under torture, and forbid appeal to an independent court, making the entire process an exercise of the president's discretion.

    Terror Charges Imminent in 9/11 Case 2008

  • The entertainment value of watching biblical creationists scrambling to unearth some kind of probative evidence to back up their naked opinions -- which, of course, is what a court trial requires -- is a lot higher than, say, mundane photos of Judith Miller being let out of prison or Karl Rove being hauled off to one.

    ¿Habla usted español tambien, Elsie? Beach Blogger 2005

  • The entertainment value of watching biblical creationists scrambling to unearth some kind of probative evidence to back up their naked opinions -- which, of course, is what a court trial requires -- is a lot higher than, say, mundane photos of Judith Miller being let out of prison or Karl Rove being hauled off to one.

    Archive 2005-10-01 Beach Blogger 2005

  • I was attempting to deal with implications of Grünbaum's argument, without addressing the "probative" question or engaging in a critique of Nisbett and Wilson's paper or Grünbaum's interpretation of it.

    How Valid Is Psychoanalysis? An Exchange Gruenbaum, Adolf 1981

  • All scientific theories, of course, determine to some extent how "probative" evidence is to be selected and interpreted.

    How Valid Is Psychoanalysis? An Exchange Gruenbaum, Adolf 1981

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