- a variation of apothegm.
apophthegm
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
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.
To collect and arrange facts is, as he tells us, the sole secret of his success, and he adds in other words the famous apophthegm of Newton, “hypotheses non fingo.”
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4 "Diameter" to "Dinarchus" by Various
Accordingly a proverb, in the nineteenth century, is a commonly known and frequently cited apophthegm.
La Rochefoucauld, expressing a commonplace with the penetrative terseness that made him a master of the apophthegm, pronounced it "not to be enough to have great qualities: a man must have the economy of them."
From Diderot and the Encyclopædists (Vol 1 of 2) by John Morley
But after nigh six months of palpitating negotiations with the adorable Mrs. Glamorys, the poet, in a moment of dejection, penned the prose apophthegm, "It is of no use trying to change a changeable person."
From The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes by Israel Zangwill
That famous apophthegm leads us nearer to the saving truth.
From Nature Mysticism by John Edward Mercer
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.
