adage

[ ad-ij ]
See synonyms for adage on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a traditional saying expressing a common experience or observation; proverb.

Origin of adage

1
1540–50; <French <Latin adagium, equivalent to ad-ad- + ag- (stem of āio I say) + -ium-ium

Other words from adage

  • a·da·gi·al [uh-dey-jee-uhl], /əˈdeɪ dʒi əl/, adjective

Words that may be confused with adage

Words Nearby adage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use adage in a sentence

  • He was perfectly contented to bide his time, remembering that adage: "All things come to him who waits."

    Dorothy at Skyrie | Evelyn Raymond
  • The old adage that “all is fair in love and war” applies to this new weapon of destruction as to every warlike instrument.

  • No man alive held the stale old adage of “Beauty when unadorned,” etc., in profounder scorn.

    Sword and Gown | George A. Lawrence
  • I say to it what I have often said to a difficulty, what the old Scotch adage says of 'the stout heart to the stey brae.'

    Tony Butler | Charles James Lever
  • The old adage, "Honor among thieves," seldom holds good after the "stroke."

    File No. 113 | Emile Gaboriau

British Dictionary definitions for adage

adage

/ (ˈædɪdʒ) /


noun
  1. a traditional saying that is accepted by many as true or partially true; proverb

Origin of adage

1
C16: via Old French from Latin adagium; related to āio I say

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012