proof of concept

noun

plural proofs of concept

: something that demonstrates the feasibility of a concept (such as a product idea or a business plan)

Even if it succeeds, the $5.9 billion reactor will be just a proof of concept, with commercial fusion power still decades away.

—Corey S. Powell

Malware and virus-writing used to be something hobbyist hackers did for fun, as proofs of concept. Not anymore.

—Mat Honan

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

No invention is worth anything without the proof-of-concept prototype.

—Shintaro Osano

… proof-of-concept experiments funded with public money and years away from any commercial application, were sponsored by university biology departments.

—Andrew Curry

Examples of proof of concept in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This very specific name and score combination is actually read as code in Displaced Gamers' proof of concept. —Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 6 May 2024

The couple would reunite romantically once more off-camera before calling it quits for good, but four years and five seasons later, Giannina remains one of the Love Is Blind’s most memorable personalities, serving almost as a proof of concept for the series itself. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 13 Feb. 2024

As the joint-stock corporations evolved overseas, Smythe was among the founders of what would become the British Empire, as important as any statesman, if not more so, in creating templates—or, in entrepreneurial terms, proofs of concept—that were reproduced over and over again for four centuries. —Caroline Elkins, Foreign Affairs, 22 Aug. 2023

The evening, Rudin later said, came off like a proof of concept. —Joshua Barone, New York Times, 5 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1967, in the meaning defined above