aphorism
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
aferihzuhmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈæfɚɪzəm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle.
verb
To speak or write aphorisms.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle.
Used this way, aphorism is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in ethics or values contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Clear and precise
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.