reprove

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English repreven, also reproven,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman reprover, also repruver, and Middle French reprouver,^[5][4] now réprouver.^[5][6] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1113–19.^[7] The source is Late Latin reprobō (“to disapprove, reject, condemn”),^[4][8][9][3] which the OED treats as classical Latin,^[5] formed from re- and probō (“to test, prove”),^[3][9][6] the prefix here marking the reversal of a previous condition.^[10][9] Barnhart calls the Old French verb a learned borrowing from Latin.^[8] Compare Spanish reprobar, Portuguese reprovar and Italian riprovare.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To taunt, mock or reproach a person: about 1316, in the Short Metrical Chronicle, in the OED's revised entry.^[5] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300, with the sense "accuse, charge as a fault",^[9] and Barnhart has "to accuse" about 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Anglo-Norman verb already meant to rebuke, to reject, to refute and to accuse,^[7] and English took over much of this range. "To rebuke, reprimand" dates from about 1350,^[5][8][9] and "to find fault with conduct or belief" from the late 14th century.^[5][9] The sense "reject" appears in the Wycliffite Bible: "The stoon whom men bildinge reproveden".^[11] It lasted until 1777 in the OED's record.^[5] Trench shows the sense "disprove", once interchangeable with that word, in Jewel's Defence of the Apology: the work had not "been anywhere openly reproved".^[12] The OED records this sense from before 1398 to 1763.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as to blame, to censure, and to charge someone to the face with a fault.^[13] Chaucer used the verb 28 times, mostly in the spelling repreve.^[14] In Northumberland dialect it was said of undigested food that rises on the stomach.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1316 – to taunt, mock or reproach a person (obsolete by 1566).^[5]
• c. 1330 – intransitive, to express disapproval.^[5]
• c. 1350 – to rebuke or reprimand a person.^[5][8] Etymonline dates this to the mid-14th century.^[9]
• c. 1350 – to reject or cast aside (obsolete by 1777).^[5]
• before 1382 – to express disapproval of conduct or a belief; to censure.^[5]
• before 1382 – to accuse a person (obsolete by 1685).^[5] Barnhart has this sense about 1303.^[8]
• before 1398 – to prove something false; to disprove (obsolete by 1763).^[5]
• before 1513 – to refute a person (obsolete by 1660).^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To speak to someone in disapproval of a fault, often gently; to rebuke or scold: The coach reproved the players for arriving late.^[16][3][5]
2. To express disapproval of conduct, an action or a belief; to censure.^[3][5] The Shorter Oxford calls this now rare.^[17]
3. To voice disapproval or rebuke, without an object.^[5][17]
4. (obsolete, 1350–1777) To reject or cast aside.^[5][17]
5. (obsolete, 1398–1763) To prove false; to disprove.^[5][12]
6. (obsolete, 1382–1685) To accuse someone of something.^[5][8]

Word family

• reprovable
• reprover
• reprovingly
• unreproved
• reproof
• reproval

Related words

• reprobate
• prove
• probate
• approve
• reprieve

Usage notes

The hyphenated re-prove, to prove again, dates from 1520–30 and is formed from re- and prove.^[18]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
18. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House