DISPROVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does disprove mean? 

• DISPROVE (verb)
  The verb DISPROVE has 1 sense:

1. prove to be false

  Familiarity information: DISPROVE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISPROVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they disprove    ... he / she / it disproves   
Past simple: disproved   
Past participle: disproved    / disproven   
-ing form: disproving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Prove to be false

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

confute; disprove

Context example:

The physicist disproved his colleagues' theories

Hypernyms (to "disprove" is one way to...):

contradict; negate (prove negative; show to be false)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "disprove"):

explode (show (a theory or claim) to be baseless, or refute and make obsolete)

controvert; rebut; refute (prove to be false or incorrect)

falsify (prove false)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Antonym:

prove (establish the validity of something, as by an example, explanation or experiment)

Derivation:

disprover (a debater who refutes or disproves by offering contrary evidence or argument)

 Context examples 

After all, I have some more responsible work in the world than to run about disproving the assertions of a lunatic.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It will be verified or disproved at the trial.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Paleoamerican hypothesis was first proposed in the 19th century, but this new study disproves that theory.

(Ancient DNA analysis unlocks secrets of Ice Age tribes in the Americas, University of Cambridge)

I set the idea aside as one which could be disproved or confirmed at our leisure.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They cannot yet formally disprove the possibility that these stars are binaries, it seems much more natural to accept that there are three generations of stars that formed in succession, within less than three million years.

(A Tale of Three Stellar Cities, ESO)