platitude

From French platitude, from plat (“flat”), from Vulgar Latin *plattus, from Ancient Greek πλᾰτῠ́ς (platús).

• IPA^(key): /ˈplætɪtjuːd/, /ˈplætɪtuːd/

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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, chapter XI, in 'The Garden of Survival':

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

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “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.

2. Unoriginality; triteness.
3. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) A claim that is trivially true, to the point of being uninteresting.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:platitude.

• cliché
• See also Thesaurus:saying

From French platitude.

• IPA^(key): /plaːtiˈtydə/

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platitude f (plural platitudes, diminutive platitudetje n)

1. platitude, cliché

platitude f (plural platitudes)

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

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