Other forms: evidenced, evidences
Evidence is what shows something is true. A footprint in the flower bed, a receipt with the time printed on it, a photograph nobody knew had been taken.
It takes no plural. You have evidence, some evidence, a piece of evidence — never an evidence, never evidences. It goes with of and for: evidence of a break-in, evidence for a theory. It also keeps particular company, being found, given, produced, ignored and destroyed. Courts and laboratories both run on it — a witness gives evidence in the box, a scientist looks for evidence that an idea holds up — and when a thing is plainly there for anyone to see, it is in evidence. Evidence is a verb too, but a stiff one, and it turns up almost only in as evidenced by.
1nounevidenceThe facts, objects and signs that show whether something is true.~96%
“The police found no evidence of a break-in.”
synonyms: proof, grounds
2nounlogicWhat a witness says in court.~2%
“She gave evidence for two hours.”
synonyms: testimony
3verbformalTo show that something is true — formal, and nearly always as evidenced by.~2%
“The damage was evidenced by long cracks along the wall.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 140 sentences found in the wild and placed 140 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Also accepted in games: proof
Latin evidentia meant clearness, and only later a proof. It was built on evidens, clear or evident, which sits on an ancient root, *weyd-, meaning see. So evidence is not the argument at all — it is the part of the case you can point at, the piece that has been made clear enough to look at.
Proto-Indo-European
*weyd-
Latin
evidentia — clearness, in Late Latin a proof
Middle English
evidence
English, today
evidence
Built from
From Middle English evidence, from Old French, from Latin evidentia (“clearness, in Late Latin a proof”), from evidens (“clear, evident”); see evident.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA