Probate
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The legal process of verifying the legality of a will. countable, uncountable
"The probate file reveals that Stephen Tetuan, attorney for the estate and author of McBride's will, wrote to Lemieux on Auust 29, 1984, encouraging him "to serve as trustee and to retain local counsel to represent your interests as trustee.""
- 2 the act of proving that an instrument purporting to be a will was signed and executed in accord with legal requirements wordnet
- 3 A copy of a legally recognised and qualified will. countable, uncountable
- 4 a judicial certificate saying that a will is genuine and conferring on the executors the power to administer the estate wordnet
- 5 Clipping of probate court. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, uncountable
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- 6 Proof. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"Macrobius that did trete Of Scipions dreme what was the treu probate"
- 1 To establish the legality of (a will). transitive
- 2 establish the legal validity of (wills and other documents) wordnet
- 3 put a convicted person on probation by suspending their sentence wordnet
Example
More examples"The probate file reveals that Stephen Tetuan, attorney for the estate and author of McBride's will, wrote to Lemieux on Auust 29, 1984, encouraging him "to serve as trustee and to retain local counsel to represent your interests as trustee.""
Etymology
From Middle English probate, from Latin probatus, past participle of probare (“to test, examine, judge of”); see probe, prove.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.