Platitude

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈplætɪtjuːd/, /ˈplætɪtuːd/

Origin

From French, from Old French plat ‘flat’.

Full definition of platitude

Noun

1. An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse; a cliché.
• 1918 — Algernon Blackwood, , ch XIBeauty, I suppose, opens the heart, extends the consciousness. It is a platitude, of course.
2. Unoriginality; triteness.
• 1922, w, “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days Chapter 2/1/2, 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.

Synonyms

• cliché