adage
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of adage
1540–50; < French < Latin adagium, equivalent to ad- ad- + ag- (stem of āio I say) + -ium -ium
Explanation
An adage is a saying. Moms and dads love adages such as "early to bed, early to rise" and "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." The noun adage comes from the Latin root aio, meaning "I say." Like a proverb, an adage can be true or not so much. It's a folksy saying that's been passed around for so long that it doesn't even matter if it's true anymore. Adages can be wise and wisecracking, such as this quote from Alice Roosevelt Longworth: "I've always believed in the adage that the secret of eternal youth is arrested development." There's a Book of Proverbs in the Bible, but adages can show up anywhere, even cross-stitched on a pillow.
Vocabulary lists containing adage
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Tragedy of Macbeth
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In such moments, he would say later, he only need remind himself of an old adage in the puppet arts.
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
There's an old adage that says confidence isn't about believing you'll win, it's about being comfortable with the fact you might lose.
From BBC • May 14, 2026
Deutsche Bank analysts call the old adage “sell in May and go away” a myth, though their own calculations aren’t quite as dismissive of the approach.
From MarketWatch • May 4, 2026
There is an old Wall Street adage: “Being early is the same as being wrong.”
From Barron's • May 4, 2026
It was about the time literature was going through a bit of a renaissance, people clinging to that old adage about bedtime stories and the dreams they might bring.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
