as in proverb
an often stated observation regarding something from common experience
it's a common maxim that "a watched pot never boils," but that's not literally true
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Recent Examples of maxim
There are three problems with this maxim.
—
Tad Friend, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026
Still, that leaves a substantial audience who will find much to enjoy in this grisly yet sensitive take on the old maxim that every baby is different.
—Catherine Bray, Variety, 14 Feb. 2026
The United States is currently living out the first half of that maxim.
—Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2026
Maybe anyone planning long journeys should take those maxims as advice anyhow.
—Michael Teo Van Runkle, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for maxim
Tad Friend, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026
Still, that leaves a substantial audience who will find much to enjoy in this grisly yet sensitive take on the old maxim that every baby is different.
—Catherine Bray, Variety, 14 Feb. 2026
The United States is currently living out the first half of that maxim.
—Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2026
Maybe anyone planning long journeys should take those maxims as advice anyhow.
—Michael Teo Van Runkle, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for maxim
Recent Examples of Synonyms for maxim
Noun
-
What does the phrase squeaky bum time, the racehorse Devon Loch, and the Portuguese proverb ‘morrer na prais’ all have in common?—
Ian Irving,
New York Times,
28 Feb. 2026
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The rooms The old Japanese proverb ‘*kachou fuugetsu’—*which translates as ‘flower, bird, wind, moon’ evoking a sense of the transient beauty of nature—is a key concept at the hotel.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes, and the existential problems that war presents often act as a stimulus to innovation.—
David Szondy
May 02,
New Atlas,
2 May 2026
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Grandma may be the queen of nonsensical sayings, but Dad is certainly the king of cheesy jokes.—
Hallie Milstein,
Southern Living,
2 May 2026
Noun
-
At the building’s peak, five-foot-tall concrete letters spell out a hundred and three words of a speech delivered by Obama in Selma, Alabama, in 2015, on the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when John Lewis and other civil-rights activists were beaten at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.—
Peter Slevin,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
The aspiration gap, in other words, is not just a story about young adults falling behind their parents.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
3 May 2026
Noun
-
An unexpected new burst of infamy arrived in 2011, when the motto appeared at SlutWalk NYC, a feminist protest, on a sign held by a protester—a white woman, as far as anyone could tell.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
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By Wednesday’s Game 5 of this first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors, the motto had drifted down toward the bottom of the giveaways, and the font size shrank.—
Eric Koreen,
New York Times,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
As the adage goes, the road to success is seldom a straight line.—
James Manso,
Footwear News,
28 Apr. 2026
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More interesting is the fact that both stations are doing so well, proving the old adage that real competition brings out the best.—
Richard Wagoner,
Daily News,
27 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Maxim.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/maxim. Accessed 5 May. 2026.
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