veritable

ver·i·ta·ble | \ ˈver-ə-tə-bəl

How to pronounce veritable (audio)

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Definition of veritable

: being in fact the thing named and not false, unreal, or imaginary —often used to stress the aptness of a metaphora veritable mountain of references

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Did You Know?

Veritable, like its close relative "verity" ("truth"), came to English through Anglo-French from Latin. It is ultimately derived from "verus," the Latin word for "true," which also gave us "verify," "aver," and "verdict." "Veritable" is often used as a synonym of "genuine" or "authentic" ("a veritable masterpiece"), but it is also frequently used to stress the aptness of a metaphor, often in a humorous tone ("a veritable swarm of lawyers"). In the past, usage commentators have objected to the latter use, but today it doesn't draw much criticism.

Examples of veritable in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Anyone on social media will tell you that Real Techniques makes a veritable dupe for the Beautyblender. — Devon Abelman, Allure, "The Best Makeup Sponges for Blending Foundation and Contouring," 21 Jan. 2020 The dessert station is a veritable paradise of open-access candy, cookies, ice cream, pastries and a triple-tier chocolate fountain. — Beth Segal, cleveland, "Equal opportunity dining: Golden Corral rounds up fine food at affordable prices," 23 Jan. 2020 Federal agents who swooped into state Sen. Martin Sandoval’s offices in the Capitol last month were armed with a search warrant naming a veritable who’s who of political power players. — Dan Petrella, chicagotribune.com, "Feds eying who’s who of political power players in raid on state Sen. Martin Sandoval’s offices," 10 Oct. 2019 Not surprisingly, a few Losers this week amassed veritable vats of ink — six blots each for Chris Doyle, Jesse Frankovich and Duncan Stevens, four for Jeff Contompasis. — Washington Post, "Style Conversational Week 1366: Invinite variety," 9 Jan. 2020 The era of peak TV has brought with it a veritable Golden Age of distinctive, innovative main title sequences. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "The 2010s were a veritable golden age of opening credits in television," 30 Dec. 2019 The Bayou City has a veritable sea of entertainment options for those looking to ring in 2020. — Dan Carson, Houston Chronicle, "Houston's guide to last minute NYE party spots," 30 Dec. 2019 But this time, in his Ike jacket pinned with medals, Merz was a veritable celebrity. — Sarah Ladd, The Courier-Journal, "Louisville WWII vet reunites with battlefield during what may be his last trip to Belgium," 22 Dec. 2019 From larger-than-life stars to top tier directors to access to top artisans in every field, the studio system crystallized filmmaking into a collaborative art form capable of producing veritable magic. — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, "How 1939 earned and kept the moniker of ‘Hollywood’s Greatest Year’," 22 Dec. 2019

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

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Dictionary Entries near veritable

veritas vos liberabit

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Last Updated

11 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Veritable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/veritable. Accessed 24 Feb. 2020.

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