aphorism

noun

aph·​o·​rism ˈa-fə-ˌri-zəm 

1

: a concise statement of a principle

2

: a terse formulation of a truth or sentiment : adage

the high-minded aphorism, "Let us value the quality of life, not the quantity"

3

: an ingeniously terse style of expression : aphoristic language

These are dazzling chapters, packed with perfectly chosen anecdotes and pithy with aphorism.

—John Keegan

aphorist

ˈa-fə-rist 

noun

aphoristic

ˌa-fə-ˈri-stik 

adjective

aphoristically

ˌa-fə-ˈri-sti-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Did you know?

Aphorism was originally used in the world of medicine. Credit Hippocrates, the Greek physician regarded as the father of modern medicine, with influencing our use of the word. He used aphorismos (a Greek ancestor of aphorism meaning "definition" or "aphorism") in titling a book outlining his principles on the diagnosis and treatment of disease. That volume offered many examples that helped to define aphorism, beginning with the statement that starts the book's introduction: "Life is short, Art long, Occasion sudden and dangerous, Experience deceitful, and Judgment difficult." English speakers originally used the term mainly in the realm of the physical sciences but eventually broadened its use to cover principles in other fields.

Synonyms

• adage
• apothegm
• byword
• epigram
• maxim
• proverb
• saw
• saying
• sententia
• word

Examples of aphorism in a Sentence

Confronted by a broadminded, witty, and tolerant cosmopolitan, for whom the infinite varieties of human custom offered a source of inexhaustible fascination, Thucydides presented himself as a humorless nationalist, an intellectual given to political aphorisms and abstract generalizations. —Peter Green, New York Review of Books, 15 May 2008

It doesn't take long to learn that a lie always unravels and that it always ends up making you feel royally cruddy. "Do the kind of work during the day that allows you to sleep at night" was an aphorism my grandfather was fond of. —Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Newsweek, 6 Mar. 2006

The Sun twice went into journalism legend. Its city editor John Bogart is generally credited with the aphorism "When a dog bites a man, that's not news. But when a man bites a dog, that's news." And the paper delivered America's most treasured editorial in 1897, when a young girl, whose playmates had told her there was no Santa Claus, wrote and asked the Sun to tell her the truth. —Peter Andrews, American Heritage, October 1994

Truman is remembered as much today for his aphorisms as his policies: "The buck stops here," "If you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen," and the like. Such slogans are endearing in a time of plastic politicians who make a career of ducking responsibilities … —Ronald Steel, New Republic, 10 Aug. 1992

When decorating, remember the familiar aphorism, “less is more.”

what does the aphorism “Hindsight is 20/20” mean?

Recent Examples on the Web

Hong’s characters deliver sharp dialogue that blends piercing confessions and resonant aphorisms, and his lyrical cinematography, encompassing many sequences of nature (including scenes indeed set by the stream), makes all the world their stage. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2024

Despentes offers no quarter to her titular hero, whose dark wit and casually racist rants come at the reader in a mad rush of metaphors and aphorisms, Despentes’s gutter vernacular of the underclass. —Marc Weingarten, The Atlantic, 23 Sep. 2024

Such revelations, which Jensen calls aphorisms, get recorded during each voyager’s trip in a living book of people’s Scripture. —Cassady Rosenblum, Rolling Stone, 18 Aug. 2024

Over the course of several interviews that took place at Sequoia’s Menlo Park headquarters, a library in Burlingame, and at his Hillsborough home, Botha kept returning to the ultimate sports aphorism. —Michal Lev-Ram, Fortune, 25 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle French aphorisme, from Late Latin aphorismus, from Greek aphorismos definition, aphorism, from aphorizein to define, from apo- + horizein to bound — more at horizon

First Known Use

1528, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

aphorism

noun

aph·​o·​rism ˈaf-ə-ˌriz-əm 

: a short statement of a general truth or idea

aphorist

-rəst 

noun

aphoristic

ˌaf-ə-ˈris-tik 

adjective

aphoristically

-ti-k(ə-)lē 

adverb