platitude
See also: Platitüde
English
WOTD – 8 January 2007
Etymology
From French platitude, from plat (“flat”), from Vulgar Latin *plattus, from Ancient Greek πλᾰτῠ́ς (platús).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈplætɪtjuːd/, /ˈplætɪtuːd/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
platitude (plural platitudes)
- An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse; a cliché.
- 1918, Algernon Blackwood, chapter XI, in 'The Garden of Survival':
- Beauty, I suppose, opens the heart, extends the consciousness. It is a platitude, of course.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- Semiramis was the first woman to invent eunuchs and women have had sympathy for them ever since; […] and women can tell them what they can't tell other men. And Ivor, suddenly cheered by laughing at his absurd platitudes, and finding himself by the door, was going from the room.
-
- Unoriginality; triteness.
- (Can we verify(+) this sense?) A claim that is trivially true, to the point of being uninteresting.
Quotations
- For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:platitude.
Synonyms
- cliché
- See also Thesaurus:saying
Translations
often-quoted saying
|
|
triteness
|
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /plaːtiˈtydə/
Audio (file)
Portuguese
Noun
platitude f (plural platitudes)
- platitude (an overused saying)
- platitude; triteness; unoriginality
Synonyms
- (overused saying): clichê
- (triteness): banalidade
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.