Platitude

Quick meaning: Platitude is a noun meaning (countable) An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse.

Meaning

(countable) An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse.

More Meanings

1. (countable) A claim that is trivially true, to the point of being uninteresting.
2. (uncountable) Flatness; lack of change, activity, or deviation.
3. (uncountable) Unoriginality; triteness.

Example Sentences

Beauty, I suppose, opens the heart, extends the consciousness. It is a platitude, of course.

The former figures the typical prairie landscape-poet who stops at the correction line (which itself literally denies the platitude of flatness) to notice the ever-present wind.

seemly platitude, flat-footed ordinariness, and well-enacted upper working class respectability cancel out any turpitude, exhilarating tension or satanic glamour a casino might be expected to have.

For most of the past three decades, the natural world was treated almost as an afterthought by world leaders. If discussed at all, it was with platitudes about the need to save polar bears and tigers.

Word Forms

• platitudes

Synonyms for platitude

Depending on context, synonyms include byword, saying, adage, saw, proverb, maxim.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include cliche, banality, commonplace, bromide, truism, topic.

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