evince

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēvincō (“to overcome completely; to prove”),^[2][3][4][5] formed from ē- (“out”) and vincō (“to conquer”).^[2][6][5] Etymonline and Barnhart take it through French évincer (“to disprove, confute”).^[7][8] It is a doublet of evict, from the same Latin verb, and according to Etymonline the English pair were not clearly told apart until the 18th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To confute, or convict of error: 1608–11, in Bishop Hall's Epistles.^[2][8] Etymonline dates this sense to about 1600.^[7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1604 as the first date, for the sense "to prove",^[4] and the Shorter Oxford puts the sense of proving by argument in the late 16th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The early English senses stayed close to the Latin: to overcome (1620–78), to convince (1621–70), to confute (1608–72) and to force assent by argument (1631–58), all now obsolete.^[2] The sense of proving by argument, recorded from 1610, lasted longest, to 1738 with a simple object.^[2] Johnson (1755) defines the word as "to prove; to show; to manifest; to make evident", quoting Milton's "to evince Their natural pravity".^[10] Weekley notes that it took over from evict the sense of giving proof.^[11] Alongside proving, the word came to mean being an indication of something: with a clause from 1621, in Burton, and with a simple object from 1777,^[2] in the journals of Cook's voyages.^[2][8] The usual modern sense, showing a feeling or quality, is recorded from 1829, in Scott's Rob Roy.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1608–11 – to confute, convict of error (obsolete by 1672).^[2][8]
• 1610 – to prove by argument or evidence (obsolete by 1738).^[2]
• 1620 – to overcome, subdue (obsolete by 1678).^[2]
• 1621 – to convince (obsolete by 1670).^[2]
• 1621 – to be evidence that something is so, with a clause.^[2]
• 1631 – to compel assent by argument (obsolete by 1658).^[2]
• 1777 – to make evident, with a simple object, in a journal from Cook's voyages.^[2][8]
• 1829 – to reveal the presence of a quality or feeling.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To show clearly or reveal a feeling or quality; to display: She evinced no surprise at the verdict.^[12][4][2]
2. To be evidence of something; to prove or confirm it: The empty shelves evince a shortage of supplies.^[4][2][9]
3. (obsolete, 1620–78) To conquer or subdue.^[2][4][9]
4. (obsolete, 1608–72) To convince, or to confute.^[2][4][9]

Word family

• evincible
• unevinced
• evincive

Related words

• evict
• convince
• vanquish
• vincible
• victor
• evoke

Usage notes

Collins warns that evince is sometimes used by mistake where evoke is meant.^[12]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins