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English
Etymology
From Middle English evidence, from Old French , from Latin evidentia (“clearness, in Late Latin a proof”), from evidens (“clear, evident”); see evident.
Pronunciation
Noun
evidence (usually uncountable, plural evidences)
- Facts or observations presented in support of an assertion.
There is no evidence that anyone was here earlier.
We have enough cold hard evidence in that presentation which will make a world of pain for our parasitic friends at Antarctica.
1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 18:We find material evidences of magical practices in the European caves of the Palæolithic age[.]
2012 March, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 106:Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
- (law) Anything admitted by a court to prove or disprove alleged matters of fact in a trial.
2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman:For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year.
- One who bears witness.
1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. , volume I, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., , →OCLC, page 53:He recapitulated the Sybil’s story word by word, with the air of a man who is cross-examining an evidence, and trying to make him contradict himself.
- A body of objectively verifiable facts that are positively indicative of, and/or exclusively concordant with, that one conclusion over any other.
Usage notes
As a noun, the word evidence is usually treated as uncountable. Thus, enumeration would generally follow a formulation such as, "Five pieces of evidence were submitted. That evidence was highly convincing." It would rarely be expressed as, "Five evidences were submitted. Those evidences were highly convincing."
Derived terms
Related terms
Collocations
Adjectives often used with "evidence"
documentary, physical, empirical, scientific, material, circumstantial, anectodal, objective, strong, weak, conclusive, hard
Translations
facts or observations presented in support of an assertion
- Albanian: dëshmi (sq) f
- Arabic: دَلِيل (ar) m (dalīl), بُرْهَان m (burhān)
- Armenian: վկայություն (hy) (vkayutʻyun), ապացույց (hy) (apacʻuycʻ)
- Azerbaijani: dəlil, sübut (az), şəhadət, isbat
- Bashkir: дәлил (dəlil)
- Belarusian: до́каз m (dókaz), све́дчанне n (svjédčannje), пасве́дчанне n (pasvjédčannje)
- Bengali: প্রমাণ (bn) (proman)
- Bulgarian: доказтелство n (dokaztelstvo)
- Burmese: သက်သေ (my) (sakse)
- Catalan: prova (ca) f
- Central Melanau: tadasah
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 證據/证据 (zh) (zhèngjù)
- Czech: důkaz (cs) m
- Danish: bevis (da) n
- Dutch: bewijs (nl) n, bewijsmateriaal (nl) n
- Esperanto: evidenteco
- Estonian: tõend
- Finnish: osoitus (fi), näyttö (fi), todiste (fi)
- French: preuve (fr) f
- Galician: proba (gl) f
- Georgian: მტკიცებულება (mṭḳicebuleba)
- German: Beweis (de) m, Indiz (de) n
- Greek: απόδειξη (el) f (apódeixi), τεκμήριο (el) n (tekmírio)
- Ancient: ἀπόδειξις f (apódeixis)
- Hebrew: ראיות f pl (reayót)
- Hindi: साक्ष्य (hi) m (sākṣya), प्रमाण (hi) m (pramāṇ), सबूत (hi) m (sabūt)
- Hungarian: tanúvallomás (hu), vallomás (hu), tanúságtétel (hu)
- Indonesian: bukti (id)
- Interlingua: evidentia (ia)
- Irish: fianaise f
- Italian: prova (it), evidenza (it) f
- Japanese: 証拠 (ja) (しょうこ, shōko)
- Kazakh: дәлел (dälel)
- Khmer: សក្ខីភាព (sakkhəy phiəp), ហ្ល័កឋាន (lak thaan), ភស្តុតាង (km) (phŏəh taang), តឹកតាង (km) (tək taang), ទឡ្ហីករណៈ (tŏəlhəykaʼraʼnaʼ)
- Korean: 증거(證據) (ko) (jeunggeo)
- Kyrgyz: далил (ky) (dalil)
- Latin: argūmentum n, indicium n
- Latvian: pierādījums m
- Lithuanian: įrodymas m
- Macedonian: доказ m (dokaz)
- Malay: bukti
- Malayalam: തെളിവ് (ml) (teḷivŭ)
- Maori: taunaki, tohu taunaki, taunakitanga
- Marathi: साक्ष f (sākṣa), पुरावा m (purāvā)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: баталгаа (mn) (batalgaa), баримт (mn) (barimt)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: bevis (no) n, evidens (no) n
- Occitan: pròva (oc) f
- Persian: گواه (fa) (govâh), مدارک (fa) (madârak), سند (fa) (sanad), اثر (fa) (asar), شهادت (fa) (šahâdat), اثبات (fa) (esbât), دَلیل (fa) (dalil)
- Plautdietsch: Tieekjniss n, Bewiess m
- Polish: dowód (pl) m
- Portuguese: evidência (pt) f, prova (pt)
- Punjabi: ਗਵਾਹੀ f (gavāhī), ਸ਼ਹਾਦਤ (pa) f (śahādat)
- Romanian: dovadă (ro) f
- Russian: доказа́тельство (ru) n (dokazátelʹstvo), свиде́тельство (ru) n (svidételʹstvo)
- Sanskrit: प्रमाण (sa) n (pramāṇa), साक्ष्य (sa) n (sākṣya)
- Scottish Gaelic: dearbhadh m, fianais f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: до̏ка̄з m
- Roman: dȍkāz (sh) m
- Slovak: dôkaz m
- Slovene: dokaz m
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: dopokaz m
- Upper Sorbian: dopokaz m
- Spanish: prueba (es)
- Swedish: bevis (sv) n
- Tagalog: katibayan
- Tajik: шаҳодат (šahodat), исбот (isbot), далел (dalel)
- Tatar: дәлил (tt) (dälil)
- Telugu: సాక్ష్యం (te) (sākṣyaṁ)
- Thai: พยานหลักฐาน (pá-yaan-làk-tǎan), การพิสูจน์ (th) (gaan-pí-sùut)
- Turkish: ispat (tr), kanıt (tr), delil (tr)
- Ukrainian: до́каз m (dókaz), свідо́цтво n (svidóctvo), сві́дчення (uk) n (svídčennja)
- Urdu: ثبوت m (sabūt)
- Uyghur: ئىسپات (ispat), دەلىل (delil)
- Uzbek: isbot (uz), dalil (uz)
- Vietnamese: sự chứng nhận (vi), bằng chứng (vi) (憑證)
- Welsh: tystiolaeth (cy) f
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anything admitted by a court as proof
- Arabic: دَلِيل (ar) m (dalīl)
- Bulgarian: доказа́телство (bg) n (dokazátelstvo)
- Catalan: prova (ca) f
- Chechen: please add this translation if you can
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 證據/证据 (zh) (zhèngjù)
- Danish: (spoken) vidneudsagn n, vidneforklaring c; (artifacts) bevismateriale (da) n
- Dutch: bewijs (nl) n, bewijsmateriaal (nl) n
- Finnish: näyttö (fi), todiste (fi), todistusaineisto (fi)
- French: preuve (fr)
- Galician: proba (gl) f
- German: Beweismittel (de) f, Indiz (de) n
- Greek: πειστήριο (el) n (peistírio), κατάθεση (el) f (katáthesi)
- Hebrew: רְאָיָה (he) f (re'ayá)
- Hungarian: bizonyíték (hu), bűnjel (hu)
- Indonesian: bukti (id)
- Interlingua: proba, prova
- Irish: fianaise f
- Japanese: 証拠 (ja) (しょうこ, shōko)
- Malayalam: തെളിവ് (ml) (teḷivŭ)
- Maori: taunakitanga
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: (spoken) vitneutsagn n, vitneforklaring c; (artifacts) bevismateriale n
- Persian: گواه (fa) (govâh), مدارک (fa) (madârak), سند (fa) (sanad), اثر (fa) (asar)
- Plautdietsch: Tieekjniss n
- Polish: dowód (pl) m, dowody m pl (plural)
- Portuguese: evidência (pt) f
- Russian: ули́ка (ru) f (ulíka)
- Scottish Gaelic: dearbhadh m, fianais f
- Slovak: dôkaz m
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: dopokaz m
- Spanish: prueba (es) f, evidencia (es) f
- Swedish: bevisning (sv) c, bevismaterial (sv) n
- Telugu: సాక్షాధారము (te) (sākṣādhāramu)
- Thai: พยานหลักฐาน (pá-yaan-làk-tǎan)
- Turkish: please add this translation if you can
- Ukrainian: до́каз m (dókaz)
- Welsh: tystiolaeth (cy) f
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Verb
evidence (third-person singular simple present evidences, present participle evidencing, simple past and past participle evidenced)
- (transitive) To provide evidence for, or suggest the truth of.
She was furious, as evidenced by her slamming the door.
1941 May, “Notes and News: William Stroudley”, in Railway Magazine, page 234:That he was a great locomotive engineer, it would be foolish to deny or even to qualify; that he was also extremely pig-headed is fairly evidenced by David Joy, who in his 'Diaries' said that Stroudley always wanted his way 'to the last nut and bolt.'
1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, pages 250–251:Elegant brick and stone buildings, with iron and glass canopies and decorative wooden scalloping and fencing—all evidencing care on the part of the architect to produce a pleasing, well-planned building—were submerged beneath a profusion of ill-conceived additions and camouflaged by vulgar paint schemes; and the original conception was lost.
2022 April 6, Conrad Landin, “ScotRail in the public eye...”, in RAIL, number 954, page 39:"And I think we can do better, and we have to do better, because we need to evidence why public ownership of the railways is going to work for the people who use it.
Usage notes
To be distinguished from evince.
Translations
to provide evidence
- Bulgarian: доказвам (bg) (dokazvam)
- Danish: vidne (da), godtgøre, bevise
- Finnish: näyttää (fi), osoittaa (fi)
- French: prouver (fr), démontrer (fr)
- Galician: probar
- German: beweisen (de)
- Greek: αποδεικνύω (el) (apodeiknýo)
- Hebrew: לימד (liméd), הראה (her'á)
- Hungarian: tanúsít (hu), bizonyít (hu)
- Indonesian: membuktikan (id)
- Interlingua: evidentiar
- Norwegian: vitne (no), bevise (no)
- Polish: udowodnić (pl) pf, dowodzić (pl) impf, udowadniać (pl) impf
- Russian: доказать (ru) pf (dokazatʹ), доказывать (ru) impf (dokazyvatʹ)
- Slovak: dokázať, dokazovať, preukázať
- Spanish: evidenciar (es)
- Swedish: bevisa (sv), föra i bevis
- Ukrainian: сві́дчити (svídčyty)
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Quotations
Further reading
- “evidence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “evidence”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Czech
Pronunciation
Noun
evidence f
- records
- registry, repository
Declension
Declension of evidence (soft feminine)
Related terms
See also
Further reading
- evidence in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
- evidence in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
- evidence in Internetová jazyková příručka
Friulian
Noun
evidence f (plural evidencis)
- evidence
Middle French
Noun
evidence f (plural evidences)
- evidence
Descendants