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
What’s happening now underscores that truism.
—
Dan Walters, Oc Register, 5 Feb. 2026
Mayors of other county cities have recently validated that truism.
—U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Jan. 2026
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
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
See All Example Sentences for truism
Dan Walters, Oc Register, 5 Feb. 2026
Mayors of other county cities have recently validated that truism.
—U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Jan. 2026
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
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
See All Example Sentences for truism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for truism
Noun
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The second was that, along with the platitudes about resilience, attendees were unusually honest about the Gulf’s predicament.—
Mohammed Sergie,
semafor.com,
4 June 2026
-
Not the word kindness, not the platitudes.—
Théoden Janes,
Charlotte Observer,
3 June 2026
Noun
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Wolff was only the eighth woman to drive a Formula 1 car (four more have done it since); the role, a now-commonplace one that includes driving the simulator during Grand Prix weekends to inform trackside strategy, was created for her.—
Danielle McNally,
InStyle,
28 May 2026
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The videos are often integrated into larger montages of drone strikes, underscoring how commonplace these drones have become for Russian forces.—
Vikram Mittal,
Forbes.com,
23 May 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
-
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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The science fiction film trope of the passionate astronomer monitoring radio telescopes in search of transmissions from an extraterrestrial intelligence, then actually hearing one, seems cliché today after decades of overuse.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
31 May 2026
-
In one specific case, that spy movie trope became all too real when Pierce Brosnan had to save Halle Berry on the set of Die Another Day (2002).—
Skyler Trepel,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 May 2026
Noun
-
Pride, the saying goes, comes before a fall.—
Mark Barabak,
Mercury News,
28 May 2026
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As the old saying goes, don’t try to eat an elephant in one bite.—
Bob Rhatigan,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
Noun
-
In the last few decades, that swagger seems to have collapsed under the weight of a tepid banality.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Apr. 2026
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One effect of this austerity and repression is to focus attention on Albee’s language, with its slippery banalities and barbs.—
Steven Winn,
San Francisco Chronicle,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Other testing by the state’s environmental quality department found elevated levels of heavy metals commonly found in oil field wastewater including barium and bromide.—
Nick Bowlin,
ProPublica,
18 May 2026
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The bromide invites teachers to underestimate their students.—
Steven F. Wilson,
The Atlantic,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Truism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/truism. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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