Disprovable: meaning, definitions and examples

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disprovable

 

[ dɪsˈpruːvəbl ]

Adjective
Context #1 | Adjective

philosophy, science

Disprovable refers to a statement or theory that can be proven false through evidence or logical reasoning. In scientific terms, a hypothesis is considered disprovable if there exists a potential observation or experiment that could show it to be incorrect.

Synonyms

falsifiable, refutable

Examples of usage

  • The theory was disprovable by new data.
  • Many scientific claims must be disprovable to be accepted.
  • His argument was disprovable, leading to its dismissal.

Translations

Translations of the word "disprovable" in other languages:

🇵🇹 refutável

🇮🇳 खंडन योग्य

🇩🇪 widerlegbar

🇮🇩 dapat dibantah

🇺🇦 спростовний

🇵🇱 można obalić

🇯🇵 反証可能な

🇫🇷 réfutable

🇪🇸 refutable

🇹🇷 çürütülebilir

🇰🇷 반박 가능한

🇸🇦 قابل للدحض

🇨🇿 vyvratitelný

🇸🇰 vyvrátiteľný

🇨🇳 可反驳的

🇸🇮 ovrgljiv

🇮🇸 fráleitt

🇰🇿 жойылатын

🇬🇪 გადაყირავება შესაძლებელი

🇦🇿 inkar edilə bilən

🇲🇽 refutable

Word origin

The term 'disprovable' is derived from the combination of the prefix 'dis-', meaning 'apart' or 'away', and the verb 'prove', which originates from the Latin 'probare', meaning 'to test or to prove'. The suffix '-able' indicates that something is capable of being done. Thus, the word literally means 'capable of being proven false'. It gained traction primarily in the 20th century as the philosophy of science developed and empiricists began prioritizing disprovability as a criterion for scientific hypotheses. Philosophers such as Karl Popper emphasized the importance of disprovable claims in distinguishing scientific statements from non-scientific ones, thereby shaping modern scientific inquiry.