Hiram Percy, 1869–1936, U.S. inventor.
his father Sir Hiram Stevens, 1840–1916, English inventor, born in the U.S.: inventor of the Maxim gun.
Hudson, 1853–1927, U.S. inventor and explosives expert (brother of Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim).
a male given name, form of Maximilian.
What is a maxim? A maxim is a principle or guiding rule. A maxim is a rule, principle, or helpful guide that leads to a general truth, such as “Actions speak louder than words” and “Strive for greatness.”Different fields of philosophy develop many rules or guiding principles based on the founder of that philosophy’s studies. These will often be called maxims and will be attributed to that founder, such as Confucious’s maxims, Marx’s maxims, and Voltaire’s maxims. Maxim also describes a written or understood rule of conduct, as discussed within an organization. For example, a science lab may discuss a maxim of always keeping goggles on in certain areas of the lab. Example: My aunt, who was a short woman, often quoted the maxim “good things come in small packages.”
See proverb.
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English maxime ultimately from Medieval Latin maxima (originally in the phrase maxima prōpositiō “axiom,” literally, “greatest proposition”), noun use of feminine of Latin maximus, superlative of magnus “great”; see much
A maxim is a succinct formulation of a principle, rule, or basic truth about life. Usually clever, maxims are like great sayings everybody knows. Ben Franklin is the author of many, including "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." A maxim sums up a fundamental principle or truth about something in a way that captures the imagination and gets repeated. Diana Vreeland, the legendary editor of Vogue magazine, once said, "Pink is the navy blue of India." May not be true, but it was such a great line it has become a maxim of fashion and even of India. An overused maxim of real estate is "Location, location, location." Confucius was spewing maxims long before Vogue hit the magazine stands: "He who learns but does not think is lost."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To rework Karl Marx’s famous maxim, sometimes historical events can be tragedy and farce at the same time, and repeat themselves in the same register.
From Salon • Mar. 15, 2026
Over time, a maxim developed: Wars of necessity are good.
From Barron's • Mar. 12, 2026
“Heel” is Tolstoy’s happy-family maxim cooked in a mad scientist’s lab.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026
Montagu Norman, the governor of the Bank of England for a quarter-century after World War I, lived by the maxim: “Never explain, never excuse.”
From MarketWatch • Feb. 3, 2026
Or, more simply, the maxim of St. Augustine: “Love, and then do what you will.”
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
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.
