demonstration Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a show or display; the act of presenting something to sight or view
    presentation; presentment.
    • the presentation of new data
    • he gave the customer a demonstration
  2. noun a show of military force or preparedness
    • he confused the enemy with feints and demonstrations
  3. noun a public display of group feelings (usually of a political nature)
    manifestation.
    • there were violent demonstrations against the war
  4. noun proof by a process of argument or a series of proposition proving an asserted conclusion
    monstrance.
  5. noun a visual presentation showing how something works
    demo.
    • the lecture was accompanied by dramatic demonstrations
    • the lecturer shot off a pistol as a demonstration of the startle response

WordNet

Dem`on*stra"tion noun
Etymology
L. demonstratio: cf. F. démonstration.
Definitions
  1. The act of demonstrating; an exhibition; proof; especially, proof beyond the possibility of doubt; indubitable evidence, to the senses or reason.
    Those intervening ideas which serve to show the agreement of any two others are called "proofs;" and where agreement or disagreement is by this means plainly and clearly perceived, it is called demonstration. Locke.
  2. An expression, as of the feelings, by outward signs; a manifestation; a show.
    Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonstration of grief? Shak.
    Loyal demonstrations toward the prince. Prescott.
  3. (Anat.) The exhibition and explanation of a dissection or other anatomical preparation.
  4. (Mil.) a decisive exhibition of force, or a movement indicating an attack.
  5. (Logic) The act of proving by the syllogistic process, or the proof itself.
  6. (Math.) A course of reasoning showing that a certain result is a necessary consequence of assumed premises; -- these premises being definitions, axioms, and previously established propositions.

Webster 1913