as in clichés
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 platitudes
This is now a political war that has escalated far beyond the ethical platitudes some use to argue against Proposition 50.
—
Marc Lampe, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Oct. 2025
Continue reading … BLIND LOYALTY – Karine Jean-Pierre has rocky rollout for book as reviews pan Biden defense, platitudes.
—FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2025
Survivors need concrete safety and justice, not spiritual platitudes.
—Ed Gaskin, Boston Herald, 19 Oct. 2025
My first true attempts at poetry were self-guided, painfully rhymed, drenched in abstractions and exhausted platitudes.
—Via Scribner, Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025
His answers, typically, differ by just a few words and a few platitudes.
—Noah White, Miami Herald, 3 Oct. 2025
Nonetheless, commonplace platitudes about honor and bravery take precedence over the feminist undertones Wyatt may aspire to.
—Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 2 Oct. 2025
Hernández, well acquainted with such platitudes in the years since her husband Jim took his life in a frozen pond, became inspired to write a book about it.
—Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Twin Cities, 28 Sep. 2025
But when this team broke camp, their goal was not to speak in glass-half-full platitudes in late September.
—Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 24 Sep. 2025
Marc Lampe, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Oct. 2025
Continue reading … BLIND LOYALTY – Karine Jean-Pierre has rocky rollout for book as reviews pan Biden defense, platitudes.
—FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2025
Survivors need concrete safety and justice, not spiritual platitudes.
—Ed Gaskin, Boston Herald, 19 Oct. 2025
My first true attempts at poetry were self-guided, painfully rhymed, drenched in abstractions and exhausted platitudes.
—Via Scribner, Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025
His answers, typically, differ by just a few words and a few platitudes.
—Noah White, Miami Herald, 3 Oct. 2025
Nonetheless, commonplace platitudes about honor and bravery take precedence over the feminist undertones Wyatt may aspire to.
—Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 2 Oct. 2025
Hernández, well acquainted with such platitudes in the years since her husband Jim took his life in a frozen pond, became inspired to write a book about it.
—Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Twin Cities, 28 Sep. 2025
But when this team broke camp, their goal was not to speak in glass-half-full platitudes in late September.
—Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 24 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for platitudes
Noun
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There is an outright rejection of bromides that would give us some conclusion of reassurance.—
Richard Newby,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Sep. 2025
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Incidents of such poisoning saw a sharp decline when the Food and Drug Administration phased out the use of bromides in pharmaceuticals between the mid 70s and late 1980s.—
Mary Walrath-Holdridge,
USA Today,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Written by Noah Oppenheim, Bigelow’s real-time thriller about the banalities and actualities of a fictional-in-premise-only nuclear attack on the United States is Netflix’s best horse in the race at the Oscars this year.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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But the movie’s soft-hearted underbelly fails to support that reading, and by the time the story finally arrives at its final moments, the unsparing cynicism that supplied its initial lift has been dragged back down to Earth by the weight of bland truisms.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
15 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Amish are part of the wider Anabaptist movement, which puts heavy emphasis on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, containing some of his most radical and counter-cultural sayings — to love enemies, live simply, bless persecutors, turn the other cheek and to endure sufferings joyfully.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
30 Oct. 2025
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The Workers’ Party of Korea is the sole ruling party of North Korea, blending communism with the words, sayings and ideals of the Kim dynasty, who have imposed their authoritarian rule on the country for three generations.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Many of these same tropes appear in movies such as The Matrix (1999), I, Robot (2004), Transcendence (2014), Ex Machina (2015), M3gan (2022), The Creator (2023), and others.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
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Misinformation swirled online, featuring racist tropes and fake videos.—
Garrett Haake,
NBC news,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Platitudes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/platitudes. Accessed 16 Nov. 2025.
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