What's the difference in meaning between "evidence" and "proof"?


What's the difference between "evidence" and "proof"? I've noticed that the word "evidence" is often used in English as if it meant proof. For example,



...there is evidence of human existence in Saudi Arabia dating back 20,000 years



It looks like in this sentence there is no place for any doubts that humans existed in Saudi Arabia 20 000 years ago. If so, then the word "evidence" here, as far as I understand, can be replaced with the word "proof". Or is it like there are some nuances here that I, as a non-native speaker of English, am not seeing?



Answer



In the simplest terms, proof is conclusive but evidence isn't. Evidence is more of a suggestion.


In your example sentence, the use of evidence is to make it clear that there are other possibilities, such as maybe the dating being wrong, or the evidence not being human in origin.


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