truism

English

Alternative forms

• trueism (archaic)

Etymology

Etymology tree

English true

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der.

English -ism

English truism

From true + -ism.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɹuːizəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

truism (plural truisms)

1. A self-evident or obvious truth.

   Synonyms: lapalissade, platitude

   • 1959 October, T. W. E. Roche, “Traffic Working at Dover Marine Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 677:

     It is a truism that the site of stations is conditioned by history and geography, but Dover Marine especially owes its fascinating and unusual layout to these two factors.

   • 2018 August 3, Philip Bump, “There’s a virus in Trumpland”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], archived from the original on 21 April 2021:

     It is a truism that the people who attend a rally for President Trump more than two years before he’s on the ballot again are generally strong supporters of President Trump.

   • 2018 November 13, Kate Julian, “Why Are Young People Having So Little Sex?”, in The Atlantic‎^[2], archived from the original on 13 November 2018:

     The phrase If something exists, there is porn of it used to be a clever internet meme; now it’s a truism.

2. A banality or cliché.

   Synonyms: platitude; see also Thesaurus:saying

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Remembrance of the Dead”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 321:

     After a little decent sorrow had been put forth for the late "severe affliction," joined with some weariful truisms about resignation to the will of Providence, the rest of the epistle was filled up with reproofs about her ladyship's extraordinary and improper conduct in setting off without his consent!

   • 2021 July 30, Richard Klasco, “Is Nose Hair Essential to Fighting Off Colds and Other Viral Illnesses?”, in The New York Times‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 July 2021:

     A medical “truism” holds that nose hair filters the air we breathe and therefore protects us from infection by airborne viruses, bacteria and other pathogens. But, as is often the case with truisms, its history may be more venerable than verified.

Derived terms

• truismatic

Translations

self-evident or obvious truth

• Bulgarian: всеизвестен факт (vseizvesten fakt)
• Catalan: obvietat f, (less common, unauthorized) truisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 陳詞濫調 / 陈词滥调 (zh) (chéncílàndiào)

• Czech: samozřejmost f, truismus m
• Dutch: gemeenplaats (nl) f
• Esperanto: evidentaĵo
• Finnish: itsestäänselvyys (fi), selviö (fi)
• French: lapalissade (fr) f, truisme (fr) m
• Galician: truísmo, simpleza f, verdade de pé de banco f
• German: Binsenwahrheit (de) f, Binsenweisheit (de) f, Gemeinplatz (de) m, Truismus (de) m, Binse (de) f, Allgemeinplatz (de) m
• Greek: κοινοτυπία (el) f (koinotypía)
• Hungarian: közhely (hu)
• Italian: ovvietà (it) f, tautologia (it) f
• Japanese: 自明の理 (じめいのり, jimei no ri)
• Norwegian: truisme m, (banal, forslitt, selvinnlysende) sannhet (no) c
• Polish: truizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: truísmo (pt) m
• Romanian: truism (ro) n
• Russian: труи́зм (ru) m (truízm), трюи́зм (ru) m (trjuízm), прописна́я и́стина (ru) f (propisnája ístina), ляпалиссиа́да (ru) f (ljapalissiáda)
• Serbo-Croatian: truizam (sh)
• Spanish: obviedad (es) f, (colloq.) perogrullada (es) f, (less common) truismo (es) m, verdad de Perogrullo f, grullada f
• Turkish: apaçık gerçek
• Welsh: gwireb f

banality or cliché

• Bulgarian: баналност (bg) f (banalnost)
• Catalan: banalitat f, lloc comú m, tòpic (ca) m, clixé (ca) m
• Czech: banalita (cs) f, klišé (cs) n, otřepaná pravda f
• Finnish: latteus (fi), klisee (fi)
• Galician: banalidade (gl) f, obviedade f, trivialidade (gl) f
• German: Banalität (de) f, Klischee (de) n, Floskel (de) f, Plattitüde (de) f, Gemeinplatz (de) m, Allgemeinplatz (de) m
• Greek: κοινοτυπία (el) f (koinotypía)
• Italian: banalità (it) f, clichè m, luogo comune (it) m, tautologia (it) f
• Romanian: banalitate (ro) f
• Russian: бана́льность (ru) f (banálʹnostʹ), клише́ (ru) n (klišé)
• Serbo-Croatian: truizam (sh) m
• Spanish: banalidad (es) f, lugar común (es) m, tópico (es) m, cliché (es) m
• Turkish: banal ya da klişe

Anagrams

• murtis

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French truisme.

Noun

truism n (plural truisme)

1. truism

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	truism	truismul	truisme	truismele
genitive-dative	truism	truismului	truisme	truismelor
vocative	truismule		truismelor