truth
pronunciation
How to pronounce truth in British English:
UK [truːθ]
How to pronounce truth in American English:
US [truːθ]
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- Noun:
- a fact that has been verified
- conformity to reality or actuality
- a true statement
- the quality of nearness to the truth or the true value
Word Origin
- truth
- truth: see true
- truth (n.)
- Old English triewð (West Saxon), treowð (Mercian) "faith, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty; veracity, quality of being true; pledge, covenant," from triewe, treowe "faithful" (see true (adj.)), with Proto-Germanic abstract noun suffix *-itho (see -th (2)). Sense of "something that is true" is first recorded mid-14c. Meaning "accuracy, correctness" is from 1560s. English and most other IE languages do not have a primary verb for for "speak the truth," as a contrast to lie (v.). Truth squad in U.S. political sense first attested in the 1952 U.S. presidential election campaign. At midweek the Republican campaign was bolstered by an innovation--the "truth squad" ..., a team of senators who trailed whistle-stopping Harry Truman to field what they denounced as his wild pitches. ["Life," Oct. 13, 1952] Let [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter. [Milton, "Areopagitica," 1644]
Synonym
truth actuality reality information gospel unvarnished naked plain inside facts intelligence factualness story
proverb gnome maxim cliche banality truth adage epigram aphorism platitude self-evident axiom mot saying saw apothegm trite precept truism motto
Example
- 1. But this was a half truth .
- 2. The first is about truth .
- 3. People living the truth change the world .
- 4. Nothing could be further from the truth of god .
- 5. There 's some truth in this .