prove them wrong

Meanings

1. 1phrasefixed phrase

   To show by your success or actions that people who doubted you were mistaken.

   Grammar: Pronoun changes: prove them wrong, prove me wrong, prove everyone wrong.

   Patterns

   • prove someone wrong
   • determined to prove them wrong

   Everyone said the small team would lose, but they proved them wrong.

   She trained hard to prove her critics wrong.

   I'm going to finish the marathon and prove them wrong.

2. 2phrasefixed phrase

   To use evidence to show that a claim someone made is false.

   Grammar: Takes a person as object; often used in debates and arguments.

   Patterns

   • prove someone wrong with something

   The data proved the skeptics wrong.

   Check the receipt and prove me wrong if you can.

   He proved his teacher wrong by finding a mistake in the textbook.

Word forms

Common combinations

determined to prove them wrong

He was determined to prove them wrong after being cut from the team.

set out to prove them wrong

She set out to prove them wrong about her ability.

delight in proving them wrong

He seemed to delight in proving them wrong.

prove the doubters wrong

The young startup proved the doubters wrong.

Synonyms and how they differ

show them

Show them is more casual and suggests a personal act of defiance, while prove them wrong is clearer about the doubters being mistaken.

disprove

Disprove is formal and usually about a claim or theory, not about people.

refute

Refute is formal and means to argue against a claim, not necessarily to succeed in spite of doubters.

Opposites

Word family

prove verb

to show something is true

proof noun

evidence that something is true

provable adjective

able to be shown to be true

disprove verb

to show that something is false

Commonly confused: prove them wrong or prove them right?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “prove them wrong”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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