Definition of ADAGE

Examples of adage in a Sentence

that old adage, “the early bird gets the worm”

Recent Examples on the Web

As Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and George Clooney could doubtless attest, navigating the British property market is an experience that reveals the truth in the adage that the U.K. and U.S. are two nations divided by their common language. — Ruth Bloomfield, WSJ, "The Lingo of British Real Estate," 28 Feb. 2019 Or at least that was the first adage that came to mind upon a quick scroll through Instagram yesterday, which found the icon sharing a throwback capture of herself in the buff, the snap accompanied by a timeless message of empowerment. — Calin Van Paris, Vogue, "Madonna’s Nude Throwback Instagram Proves She Is the Original Sex Positive Girl," 20 Dec. 2018 Yet in Bolivia, the argument that a leader like Mr. Morales needs to be allowed to run again is being countered by an adage: That power corrupts those who hold it. — Nicholas Casey, New York Times, "Bolivia Tells President His Time Is Up. He Isn’t Listening.," 28 Jan. 2018 That timeworn adage is fitting for what Dulaney’s girls lacrosse team is doing as the regular season winds down and the postseason is looming. — Nelson Coffin, baltimoresun.com, "Dulaney girls lacrosse stays hot with win over Loch Raven as postseason approaches," 2 May 2018 But there’s a lot of history supporting the adage that generals forever prepare to fight the last war. — Douglas J. Feith And, WSJ, "The U.S. Military’s Crisis of Imagination," 19 Dec. 2018 There's an old adage about running for office: when a person runs, their whole family runs along with them. — Lauren Hubbard, Town & Country, "How John McCain's Children Were Shaped by His Political Career," 27 Aug. 2018 Good pitching beats good hitting, or so the adage goes. — New York Times, "Yankees Offense Takes the Day Off Against Justin Verlander," 28 May 2018 The adage circulating on the island is that Martha’s Vineyard is for millionaires and Nantucket is for billionaires. — Hannah Seligson, Town & Country, "Inside Hotel Pippa, the Buzziest New Place to Stay on Nantucket," 1 Aug. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'adage.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for adage

borrowed from Middle French, borrowed from Latin adagiō, adagium, from ad- ad- + ag-, base of aiō, āiō "(I) say" (going back to *ag-i̯ō, going back to an Indo-European verb stem *h₂eǵ-i̯e- "say") + -ium, deverbal noun suffix; akin to Greek ê "(s/he) spoke," án-ōga "(I) command," Armenian asem "(I) say," Tocharian B āks- "announce, proclaim"

Note: The Latin form is possibly adāgiō; the lack of vowel reduction in the second syllable is otherwise unexplained. Michiel de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin (Brill, 2008), believes that the base is not aiō, but rather adigō, "I drive/thrust/plunge into, force, impel." Semantically, this is not compelling, and does not in any case solve the problem of the second syllable. On the other hand, the lack of attestation for aiō with any prefixes aside from this noun is striking.

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