Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Platitude

Plat′i-tude

,
Noun.
[F., from
plat
flat. See
Plate
.]
1.
The quality or state of being flat, thin, or insipid; flat commonness; triteness; staleness of ideas of language.
To hammer one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite
platitude
.
Motley.
2.
A thought or remark which is flat, dull, trite, or weak; a truism; a commonplace.

Definition 2024


platitude

platitude

See also: Platitüde

English

Noun

platitude (plural platitudes)

  1. An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse; a cliché.
  2. Unoriginality; triteness.
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, chapter 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.
  3. A claim that is trivially true, to the point of being uninteresting.

Quotations

  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:platitude.

Synonyms

  • cliché
  • See also Wikisaurus:saying

Translations


Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /plaːtiˈtydə/

Etymology

From French platitude.

Noun

platitude f (plural platitudes, diminutive platitudetje n)

  1. platitude, cliché

Portuguese

Noun

platitude f (plural platitudes)

  1. platitude (an overused saying)
  2. platitude; triteness; unoriginality

Synonyms