maxim

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Saying

Nouns

1. maxim, aphorism, gnome, apothegm, dictum, saying, adage, saw, proverb; sentence, mot, motto, catchphrase, word, moral, byword, household word; axiom, theorum, scholium, truism, truth, formula, principle, law, conclusion, reflection, proposition, protasis; precept, rule, golden rule; well-turned phrase; epigram, slogan, device; epitaph; buzzword. See wit.

2. (trite saying) commonplace, bromide, cliché; platitude, twice-told tale, text; wise, trite, or hackneyed saying. Informal, old song or story. Slang, chestnut.

Verbs — aphorize, epigrammatize.

Adjectives — aphoristic, proverbial, axiomatic, epigrammatic; sententious, bromidic, platitudinous, commonplace; terse, succinct.

Adverbs — aphoristically, proverbially, as the saying goes, as they say, to coin a phrase.

Phrases — a proverb is the child of experience; the maxims of men disclose their hearts.

Quotations — I hate quotation. Tell me what you know (Emerson), A proverb is one man's wit and all men's wisdom (Lord John Russell), It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations (Winston Churchill), Proverbs are the sanctuary of the intuitions (Emerson), Famous remarks are very seldom quoted correctly (Simeon Strunsky).

Antonyms, see absurdity.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. aphorism, adage, saying, epithet; see proverb , saying .

See Synonym Study at saying .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) (VOCABULARY WORD) n.

[MAK sim]

a saying that illustrates a basic truth. *

Blood is thicker than water

* is a popular maxim.

SYN.: saying, truth, principle, truism, adage, aphorism, proverb, axiom, tenet, saw, *bromide, cliche. ''Little sermons.''—Gelett Burgess. ''The condensed good sense of nations.''—James Mackintosh.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun A usually pithy and familiar statement expressing an observation or principle generally accepted as wise or true: adage, aphorism, byword, motto, proverb, saw, saying. See WORDS.