adage
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Led by the adage of “doing good while doing well,” microfinance lenders have since advanced hundreds of billions of dollars to poor people in countries from Albania to Zimbabwe.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2026
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
Try to keep in mind the adage that “IPO” often stands for “it’s probably overpriced.”
From MarketWatch • May 12, 2026
As the age-old adage goes, “too much of a good thing is a bad thing.”
From Salon • May 7, 2026
The old adage “Talk is cheap until you hire a lawyer” didn’t apply to Bobby since he had two high-profile lawyers working for him pro bono.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
