English

Noun

platitude ‎(plural platitudes)

1. An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse; a cliché.
   • 1918 — Algernon Blackwood, The Garden of Survival, ch XI

     Beauty, I suppose, opens the heart, extends the consciousness. It is a platitude, of course.

2. Unoriginality; triteness.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, chapter 2/1/2, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

     Semiramis was the first woman to invent eunuchs and women have had sympathy for them ever since; […] and women can tell them what they can't tell other men. And Ivor, suddenly cheered by laughing at his absurd platitudes, and finding himself by the door, was going from the room.

3. A claim that is trivially true, to the point of being uninteresting.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see Citations:platitude.

Synonyms

• cliché
• See also Wikisaurus:saying

Translations

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaːtiˈtydə/

Etymology

From French platitude.

Noun

platitude f ‎(plural platitudes, diminutive platitudetje n)

1. platitude, cliché

Portuguese

Noun

platitude f (plural platitudes)

1. platitude (an overused saying)
2. platitude; triteness; unoriginality

Synonyms

• (overused saying): clichê
• (triteness): banalidade