as in proverb
an often stated observation regarding something from common experience her mother endlessly repeated the apothegm "cleanliness is next to godliness"

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of apothegm As with every Together Live speaker, each apothegm is met with exuberant applause. Zoë Ghertner, Vogue, 10 Jan. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apothegm
Noun
  • The Giants have one of the least-talented and most expensive offensive lines in the entire NFL There's an old NFL proverb that suggests games are won and lost in the trenches.
    Geoffrey Knox, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 June 2025
  • Nobody plots against anyone, but nobody invokes ancient proverbs, either.
    Justin Chang, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
Noun
  • Sunlight, as the saying goes, is the best disinfectant.
    Tom Blakely, Boston Herald, 27 June 2025
  • The better version of this saying is to iterate fast.
    Abdo Riani, Forbes.com, 26 June 2025
Noun
  • More important would be whether China and Russia took any stronger action against the United States beyond words.
    Matthew Tostevin Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 June 2025
  • That word first exploded onto the scene in World War II Britain as Royal Air Force slang for a bomb of enough penetrating power to shatterwhole blocks of homes and pavements.
    Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 June 2025
Noun
  • It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story.
    Jann E. Freed, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
  • Her poems of that era — sonnets, epigrams, eminently quotable snippets of rhymed gossip — pulse with the dynamism and attitude of the modern city.
    A.O. Scott, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025

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“Apothegm.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apothegm. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.

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