apophthegm
/ˈapəθɛm
/(US apothegm)
noun
A concise saying or maxim; an aphorism: the apophthegm ‘tomorrow is another day’...
- His apophthegm, or maxim by which he is remembered, is: ‘All men are bad’ an unambiguous example of selection bias.
- You belong where the witty apothegms of Lords, the silly moralities of matrons, the blinding high of opium, and the beauty of visual arts mingle to form one convoluted world.
- Prose romances were rewritten as plays, old plays were rewritten as new, classical texts were translated, adapted, and plundered for moral sententiae, apothegms, and imagery.
Derivatives
apophthegmatic
- The first half, therefore, is static, full of apothegmatic insights and reflections about human nature.
- The picture is completed by his apophthegmatic liner notes in English, French and German.
- Whereas quotations with an apothegmatic feel are normally ascribed to Shaw, those with a more grandiose or belligerent tone are almost automatically credited to Churchill.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from French apophthegme or modern Latin apothegma, from Greek, from apophthengesthai 'speak out'.