apophthegm
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- apophthegmatic adjective
- apophthegmatical adjective
Etymology
Origin of apophthegm
C16: from Greek apophthegma, from apophthengesthai to speak one's opinion frankly, from phthengesthai to speak
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.
Faint heart never won fair lady, he said to himself, in some answering apophthegm.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 84, October, 1864 by Various
I was still pondering over this apophthegm, when Crofton aroused me by pushing across the table a great heap of gold.
From A Day's Ride A Life's Romance by Lever, Charles James
Accordingly a proverb, in the nineteenth century, is a commonly known and frequently cited apophthegm.
The soul of Sir Thomas Gourlay writhed within him like a wounded serpent, at the calm but noble truth contained in this apophthegm.
From The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain The Works of William Carleton, Volume One by Carleton, William
The perverseness of mankind makes it often mischievous 37in men of eminence to give way to merriment; the idle and the illiterate will long shelter themselves under this foolish apophthegm.
From The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II by Johnson, Samuel
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.
