as in cliché
an idea or expression that has been used by many people
ended his letter with the overused truism, "You can't win them all!"
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Recent Examples of truism
Mayors of other county cities have recently validated that truism.
—
U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Jan. 2026
Warfare Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare is an admirable attempt to counter the truism that there’s no such thing as an anti-war movie — that all war movies, however gruesome or wrenching, effectively (and often unwittingly) wind up glamorizing combat to some degree.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
Kemp does warn his readers to be skeptical of truisms about the nature of history and the odds of apocalypse.
—Linda Kinstler, The Atlantic, 1 Dec. 2025
But the movie’s soft-hearted underbelly fails to support that reading, and by the time the story finally arrives at its final moments, the unsparing cynicism that supplied its initial lift has been dragged back down to Earth by the weight of bland truisms.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 15 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for truism
U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Jan. 2026
Warfare Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare is an admirable attempt to counter the truism that there’s no such thing as an anti-war movie — that all war movies, however gruesome or wrenching, effectively (and often unwittingly) wind up glamorizing combat to some degree.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
Kemp does warn his readers to be skeptical of truisms about the nature of history and the odds of apocalypse.
—Linda Kinstler, The Atlantic, 1 Dec. 2025
But the movie’s soft-hearted underbelly fails to support that reading, and by the time the story finally arrives at its final moments, the unsparing cynicism that supplied its initial lift has been dragged back down to Earth by the weight of bland truisms.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 15 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for truism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for truism
Noun
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But for UConn, the platitudes feel profoundly honest.—
Emily Adams,
Hartford Courant,
29 Mar. 2026
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Donovan reiterated a series of platitudes that haven’t changed during his time with the Bulls.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
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By the time Szeemann was invited to organize two consecutive installments of the Venice Biennale (in 1999 and 2001), the criticism of curators’ assuming the role of meta-artists, in Szeemann’s case with quasi-shamanistic aspirations, had become a commonplace.—
Daniel Birnbaum,
Artforum,
2 Apr. 2026
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But little things can turn the commonplace into tragedy.—
Dave Duffey,
Outdoor Life,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
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What does the phrase squeaky bum time, the racehorse Devon Loch, and the Portuguese proverb ‘morrer na prais’ all have in common?—
Ian Irving,
New York Times,
28 Feb. 2026
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The rooms The old Japanese proverb ‘*kachou fuugetsu’—*which translates as ‘flower, bird, wind, moon’ evoking a sense of the transient beauty of nature—is a key concept at the hotel.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Epic historical fiction, dark academia, and the quirkiest 90s throwback, each novel showcasing a different facet of the slow burn trope.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Apr. 2026
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Still others are repeating the same tropes that have plagued college sports for more than a decade.—
Eben Novy-Williams,
Sportico.com,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But as the saying goes, one data report is just a signal; two is a pattern; three months, really, is what tells you the trend.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
3 Apr. 2026
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In fact, there’s a saying among gardeners that perennials sleep, creep, leap.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The banality of her words about Ma Binney was terrible.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Mar. 2026
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The scale and range of Dominique Pelicot’s partners in crime showed the terrible banality of their acts, and how easily society had allowed them.—
Gaby Wood,
Vogue,
21 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The bromide has it that a liberal is a person who won’t take his own side in an argument.—
Becca Rothfeld,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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In Cuba today, Marxist bromides serve as nothing more than rhetorical cover for corruption.—
Quico Toro,
The Atlantic,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Truism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/truism. Accessed 7 Apr. 2026.
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