platitude
/ˈplætɪˌt(j)ud/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.17 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse.
Countable
Example Sentences
- "Beauty, I suppose, opens the heart, extends the consciousness. It is a platitude, of course."
- "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."
- "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."
- "The synthesis which he helped to effect was so successful that this aspect of his work escaped notice in the last century: all that Britomart stands for was platitude to our fathers. It is platitude no longer."
- "After explaining myself sufficiently, I now offer my own platitude: I believe that the institution of the cabaret has the right to exist only so long as it bears the character of dilettantism and improvisation."
- "Indeed, in the ownership scenario the idealization is supported in a much thinner manner: we start with a platitude that characterizes individuals as coowners (that they are de facto seen as either property holders themselves or otherwise as […]"
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: platitude
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈplætɪˌt(j)ud/
- British English: /ˈplatɪˌtjuːd/