noun

• 1An environment that serves to demonstrate whether something, such as a theory or product, really works.

  ‘Bay County is the proving ground for a new gutter-cleaning vacuum’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Like the technologies described above, today's dual-edge platforms will serve as the proving grounds for next-gen services such as CDNs (content distribution networks).’
  • ‘Of course, no repair job is really ever finished without a test ride, and the snowy micro-tundra that is Summit County, Ohio served as superb proving grounds.’
  • ‘In recent years, sliding-block puzzles have served as proving grounds for novel motion-planning strategies.’
  • ‘But after looking into the matter, it seems more like the Cambrian Explosion is a proving ground for evolutionary theory.’
  • ‘The Franco-Prussian War was a military proving ground in an age full of uncertainties.’

  1. 1.1US A military facility for the testing of materiel and equipment.
     ‘Aberdeen Proving Ground’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Cities of the Plain begins its work by plunking down Grady and Parham on the same ranch: a dusty, overgrazed New Mexico spread on the edge of a postwar military proving ground.’
     • ‘The US Army proving grounds is located in Aberdeen, Maryland on 72,960 acres. It is the oldest active proving ground where weapons and military technology are experimented or tested.’
     • ‘The inner canister was flown to the Army's air field at the proving ground and put in a clean room, a work area in which the air quality, temperature and humidity are highly regulated to prevent contamination.’