tru·ism

(tro͞o′ĭz′əm)

A statement that is obviously true or that is often presented as true: "the truism that envy often masquerades as resentment" (John Rawls). See Synonyms at cliché.

tru·is′tic (tro͞o-ĭs′tĭk) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

truism

(ˈtruːɪzəm)

an obvious truth; platitude

[C18: from true + -ism]

truˈistic adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tru•ism

(ˈtru ɪz əm)

n.

a self-evident, obvious truth, esp. a cliché.

[1700–10]

tru•is′tic, adj.

truism

a self-evident, obvious truth. — truistic, truistical, adj.

truism

noun cliché, commonplace, platitude, axiom, stock phrase, trite saying the truism that nothing succeeds like success

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

truism

noun

A trite expression or idea:

banality, bromide, cliché, commonplace, platitude, stereotype.

Translations

Binsenwahrheit

truismo

sannhettruisme

трюизм

truism

[ˈtruːɪzəm] N (= well-known truth) → perogrullada f (pej) (= cliché) → tópico m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

truism

[ˈtruːɪzəm] n (= cliché) → truisme m, lieu m commun

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

truism

n (= obvious truth) → Binsenwahrheit f; (= platitude) → Plattitüde f, → Gemeinplatz m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

truism

[ˈtruːɪzəm] n → verità f inv lapalissiana

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

That it was intrinsically valuable was a truism I had never questioned.

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I turned this truism over in my mind as, in the frosty dawn of a January morning, I hurried down the steep and now icy street which descended from Mrs.

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The French electrify the world not by starting any paradox, they electrify it by carrying out a truism. They carry a truism so far--as in the French Revolution.

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"While there is life," he said, "there is hope," but he grinned as he voiced the ancient truism.

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The doctor here will bear me out that on one occasion I tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his blood, relying of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, `For the blood is the life.' Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has vulgarized the truism to the very point of contempt.

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I echoed a sentiment that was generosity itself in Raffles, but in my case a mere truism.

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But except for a short shudder Mrs Verloc remained apparently unaffected by the force of that terrible truism. It was Mr Verloc himself who was moved.

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Before an anchor can ever be raised, it must be let go; and this perfectly obvious truism brings me at once to the subject of the degradation of the sea language in the daily press of this country.

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He seems to think that the end of poetry is, or should be, instruction; yet it is a truism that the end of our existence is happiness; if so, the end of every separate part of our existence, everything connected with our existence, should be still happiness.

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"It has been a well-worn truism," said the Times, "that our human race are a feeble folk before the infinite latent forces which surround us.

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Aware of the impression he had made--few men were quicker than he at such discoveries--Mr Chester followed up the blow by propounding certain virtuous maxims, somewhat vague and general in their nature, doubtless, and occasionally partaking of the character of truisms, worn a little out at elbow, but delivered in so charming a voice and with such uncommon serenity and peace of mind, that they answered as well as the best.

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Since the 19th century, it has become a truism among many Jews that the principal if not the only determinant of Jewish identity is Jews' relationship to a "religion" called "Judaism." Corollaries to this truism abound.

Men and Women of the Nation