Proofreading means carefully checking for errors in a text before it is published or shared. It is the very last stage of the writing process, when you fix minor spelling and punctuation mistakes, typos, formatting issues and inconsistencies. It's the most common definition, after all. But when taken in the context of proofreading, it has a slightly different meaning. The word comes from the Latin probare, the same word that gave us 'probe'. It means 'to confirm by testing