SHIBBOLETHS Synonyms: 39 Similar and Opposite Words

shibboleths

noun

plural of shibboleth

as in slogans

an attention-getting word or phrase used to publicize something (as a campaign or product) we knew that their claim of giving "the best deal in town" was just a shibboleth

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in clichés

an idea or expression that has been used by many people there's a lot of truth in the shibboleth that if you give some people an inch, they'll take a mile

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

profundities

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of shibboleths The director scores easy laughs off of modern-day progressive shibboleths such as gender-fluid pronouns, trigger warnings and Native American land acknowledgments. — Gustavo Arellano, Houston Chronicle, 25 Mar. 2026 The director scores easy laughs off of modern-day progressive shibboleths such as gender-fluid pronouns, trigger warnings and Native American land acknowledgments. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 17 Mar. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shibboleths

Noun

Hundreds of people have gathered throughout the week to carry posters, shout slogans, and sing.

— Rhea Mogul, CNN Money, 26 June 2026
The Tesla’s desecration follows a vandalism spree in Queens that saw religious centers, homes and vehicles defiled with swastikas and antisemitic slogans last month.

— Barry Williams, New York Daily News, 26 June 2026

Definition of slogans

Noun

Spain’s success over the past five years has undermined many long-standing political-economic truisms.

— Rogé Karma, The Atlantic, 1 June 2026
The play isn’t subtle; the final sequence leans hard on truisms about addiction and trauma, which are affecting but overly explicit.

— Sheldon Pearce, New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2026

Definition of truisms

Noun

Others carried banners, while billboards across the city bore Khamenei’s image.

— Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN Money, 4 July 2026
For example, one set of flag banners for Argentina and Cape Verde were in Miami at Hard Rock Stadium for Friday’s game while the other set was already en route to Atlanta, where the winner of this match would play next in the Round of 16.

— Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 4 July 2026

Definition of banners

Noun

As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, some of America’s most visible business leaders are doing more than offering patriotic platitudes.

— Robert Daugherty, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026
There’s passable yet indistinguishable music in this exact style dropping every day, but the difference with Chicago’s Fatso is that his lyrics feel like scraps of conversations that communicate his hurt without leaning on platitudes.

— Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 24 June 2026

Definition of platitudes

Noun

The episode is replete with racist tropes and stereotypes, made all the worse by the fact that it's all presented as an unserious Halloween treat.

— Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 3 July 2026
Someone who is actually drawing on the tropes and the techniques of science fiction toward a different end, toward actually accessing capital markets.

— Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 3 July 2026

Definition of tropes

Noun

The president used similar bromides in private calls to assuage allies, including Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson, before launching the war in February, according to people familiar with the conversations.

— Vivian Salama, The Atlantic, 3 June 2026
While these songs might appear to be somewhat straightforward EBM that wear their politics on their latex sleeve, there’s a level of ambiguity at work that moves Kissing Luck Goodbye past its own bromides and into deeper artistic territory.

— Sadie Sartini Garner, Pitchfork, 16 Apr. 2026

Definition of bromides

Noun

Here, Laura, a magazine writer in London, drifts through old friendships, failed romances, and the gothic banalities of family life.

— Air Mail, Air Mail, 20 June 2026
One effect of this austerity and repression is to focus attention on Albee’s language, with its slippery banalities and barbs.

— Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 Apr. 2026

Definition of banalities

Noun

Where the most hopelessly corny sayings are painstakingly stitched into the equivalent of cloth graph paper by women who believe in the sayings and give the plaques to people who do not believe in the sayings.

— Padgett Powell, Harpers Magazine, 30 June 2026
Arriving on July 17 through Mass Appeal, the project plays on one of his signature sayings while conveying his mindset at this stage in his personal and professional journey.

— Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 26 June 2026

Definition of sayings

Browse Nearby Words

shibboleth

shibboleths

shied

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Cite this Entry

Style

“Shibboleths.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shibboleths. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of shibboleths

noun

Example Sentences

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