as in cliché
an idea or expression that has been used by many people
ended his letter with the overused truism, "You can't win them all!"
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Recent Examples of truism
Warfare 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.
—
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
Kemp does warn his readers to be skeptical of truisms about the nature of history and the odds of apocalypse.
—Linda Kinstler, The Atlantic, 1 Dec. 2025
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
One ironclad truism about sports is that all streaks eventually come to an end.
—Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 2 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for truism
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
Kemp does warn his readers to be skeptical of truisms about the nature of history and the odds of apocalypse.
—Linda Kinstler, The Atlantic, 1 Dec. 2025
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
One ironclad truism about sports is that all streaks eventually come to an end.
—Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 2 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for truism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for truism
Noun
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Donovan reiterated a series of platitudes that haven’t changed during his time with the Bulls.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Mar. 2026
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For Hankins-Biggers and her team, espousing empty platitudes isn’t enough.—
Essence,
Essence,
22 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Such double-headers are far from commonplace in English football, but are becoming more frequent.—
Gregg Evans,
New York Times,
6 Mar. 2026
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The most commonplace and the most concerning, as a consequence, come by way of phishing campaigns.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
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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
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Steeped in international cinema, Haghighi has since taken familiar tropes, forms, and genres and bent them in new directions.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
27 Mar. 2026
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Episode 1, for example, comes over as a political thriller with horror tropes where Prime Minister Adolfo Saúrez battles in 1976 to persuade – or bribe – a Francoist parliament to vote itself out of existence.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The decal features a common saying in intelligence circles.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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More than a saying, pura vida is a guiding philosophy that honors simplicity and sustainability, and celebrates the deep-rooted connection between people and their environment.—
Meghan Palmer,
Condé Nast Traveler,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The banality of her words about Ma Binney was terrible.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Mar. 2026
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The scale and range of Dominique Pelicot’s partners in crime showed the terrible banality of their acts, and how easily society had allowed them.—
Gaby Wood,
Vogue,
21 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Despite their clear affection for these women, the Dardenne brothers never sugarcoat their characters’ unenviable circumstance or latch onto phony bromides to alleviate our anxiety.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Jan. 2026
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Doping the Undopable The work focuses on cesium lead bromide nanoparticles known as CsPbBr3.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Truism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/truism. Accessed 31 Mar. 2026.
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