as in cliche
an idea or expression that has been used by many people
"blondes have more fun" is a silly platitude
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Recent Examples of platitude
To many, the mural seemed from the outset little more than a platitude in place of progress.
—
Ken Makin, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Mar. 2025
Experts say your presence is more powerful than platitudes.
—Catherine Pearson, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2024
Wednesday's bizarre, inexact, and amorphous Rose Garden rally was a series of endless platitudes.
—Jason D. Greenblatt, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Apr. 2025
The Portuguese novelist José Saramago is a master of such ironies, in which a narrator’s bland clichés and platitudes hang in the air, neither quite owned nor quite disavowed, waiting to be ironized by the action of the novel.
—James Wood, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for platitude
Ken Makin, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Mar. 2025
Experts say your presence is more powerful than platitudes.
—Catherine Pearson, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2024
Wednesday's bizarre, inexact, and amorphous Rose Garden rally was a series of endless platitudes.
—Jason D. Greenblatt, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Apr. 2025
The Portuguese novelist José Saramago is a master of such ironies, in which a narrator’s bland clichés and platitudes hang in the air, neither quite owned nor quite disavowed, waiting to be ironized by the action of the novel.
—James Wood, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for platitude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for platitude
Noun
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All while staying far, far away from the tropes and cliches associated with your typical medical drama.—
Rachel Elspeth Gross,
Forbes.com,
10 Apr. 2025
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His candor bucks convention, running against the constant cliches or coachspeak from his counterparts.—
Chandler Rome,
The Athletic,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
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All the players corroborate a truism: Politics attracts deformed personalities featuring an insatiable lust of power for the sake of power to fuel self-esteem.—
Bruce Fein,
Baltimore Sun,
1 May 2025
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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.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
11 Apr. 2025
Noun
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South Carolina and other states had in the past had difficulty obtaining some drugs for lethal injections, including sodium thiopental and pancuronium bromide, due to shortages.—
Kristin Wright,
NPR,
25 Apr. 2025
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The executioner who initiates the flow of lethal chemicals into Tanzi's body then enters the room to begin the state's three-drug protocol — beginning with etomidate, an anesthetic, followed by rocuronium bromide, a paralytic, and potassium acetate, which will induce cardiac arrest.—
Raja Krishnamoorthi,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Platitude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/platitude. Accessed 8 May. 2025.
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