platitude

3 definitions found

platitude - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Platitude \Plat"i*tude\, n. [F., from plat flat. See Plate.]
     1. The quality or state of being flat, thin, or insipid; flat
        commonness; triteness; staleness of ideas of language.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To hammer one golden grain of wit into a sheet of
              infinite platitude.                   --Motley.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A thought or remark which is flat, dull, trite, or weak; a
        truism; a commonplace.
        [1913 Webster]

platitude - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  platitude
      n 1: a trite or obvious remark [syn: platitude, cliche,
           banality, commonplace, bromide]

platitude - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  41 Moby Thesaurus words for "platitude":
     abstraction, banality, bromide, chestnut, cliche, commonplace,
     commonplace expression, corn, familiar tune, general idea,
     generalization, generalized proposition, glittering generality,
     hackneyed expression, hackneyed saying, inanity, insipidity,
     lieu commun, locus communis, mawkishness, old joke, old saw,
     old song, old story, prosaicism, prosaism, prose, reiteration,
     retold story, rubber stamp, sentimentality, shibboleth,
     stereotyped saying, sweeping statement, tag, tired cliche,
     trite saying, triticism, truism, twice-told tale, vapidity