misprove

English

Etymology

mis- +‎ prove

Verb

misprove (third-person singular simple present misproves, present participle misproving, simple past and past participle misproved)

1. (archaic) To disprove; to provide evidence that contradicts.
   • 1890, Matteo Bandello, The Novels of Matteo Bandello: Bishop of Agen - Volume 4, page 277:

     At this Giulio abode stupefied and well-nigh beside himself, acknowledging that Delio spoke the truth; nevertheless, impatient to rid himself of the annoy wherein he found himself, "I know very full well," quoth he, "that thou sayest sooth and that, if this wicked woman choose to be obstinate and persist in her lies, I can nowise misprove her by evidence and we shall be worse off than ever; but meseemeth Camillo should put far more trust in my most true words than in thelies of a woman of the vilest sort, whom he hath again and again proved to be a liar.

   • 1899 (work published in 2000), Mary Antin, edited by Evelyn Salz, Selected Letters of Mary Antin, page 18:

     The history of how the thing came to be written, and why I kept it unaltered in translating, would prove ( or misprove ) this mistake the critic makes.

   • 2018, Elizabeth Willey, A Sorcerer and a Gentleman:

     “You yourself misprove that,” Dewar said.

   • 2021, Kyle Morton, Some Thoughts:

     if the different study of rocks and formations, and stalactites and stalgmites and so forth, prove that, dripping, of millions of years, and God said He made the heavens and earth in one twenty-four hours, doesn't that misprove, disprove the Bible?

2. To provide an erroneous proof for.
   • 2018, Douglas K. Johanson, Creationism and the Book of Revelation:

     It is easy to ignore the difference between theory and law. It is easy to pull data out of context to misprove things. (They make it look like something is true when it is really false.)