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• maxim
  maxim

  noun

  an expression of a general truth or principle, especially an aphoristic or sententious one.
• Maxim
  Maxim

  noun

  Hiram Percy, 1869–1936, U.S. inventor.

maxim

¹ American  

[mak-sim] / ˈmæk sɪm /

noun

• maxims
  plural

1. an expression of a general truth or principle, especially an aphoristic or sententious one.

   the maxims of La Rochefoucauld.

   Synonyms:

   apothegm, adage, saying, aphorism

2. a principle or rule of conduct.

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Maxim ² American  

[mak-sim, mak-seem, muh-ksyeem] / ˈmæk sɪm, makˈsim, mʌˈksjim /

noun

1. Hiram Percy, 1869–1936, U.S. inventor.

2. his father Sir Hiram Stevens, 1840–1916, English inventor, born in the U.S.: inventor of the Maxim gun.

3. Hudson, 1853–1927, U.S. inventor and explosives expert (brother of Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim).

4. a male given name, form of Maximilian.

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Maxim ¹ British  

/ ˈmæksɪm /

noun

1. Sir Hiram Stevens. 1840–1916, British inventor of the first automatic machine gun (1884), born in the US

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maxim ² British  

/ ˈmæksɪm /

noun

1. a brief expression of a general truth, principle, or rule of conduct

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Usage

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.”

Synonym Usage

See proverb.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• maxims
  plural

Etymology

Origin of maxim

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

Explanation

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

maxim Maxim maxims

Her signature maxim — “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap” — drew laughs for decades even as it illuminated the unflinching honesty of her creative approach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Following his father’s maxim that “if you ain’t first, you’re last,” Ricky Bobby can’t imagine a win for anyone else as anything less than something stolen from him.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Billionaire Warren Buffett had a simple maxim for navigating Berkshire Hathaway through the financial crisis of 2007-09.

From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026

“Take things always by their smooth handle,” was a maxim he liked to offer young people.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

This result became known by the maxim: “A black hole has no hair.”

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking

Indeed, the only one of Brighton's eight representatives to make it past the last 16 was Belgium left-back Maxim de Cuyper who played in all six of their matches, starting five.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

Higher-income motorists’ consumption barely budged that month, a departure from how they pulled back during the 2022 shock, said Maxim Pinkovskiy, an economic research adviser at the New York Fed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026

She’s appeared in Maxim and cleaned up in poker tournaments when that was a thing.

From Salon ● May 4, 2026

Meanwhile, Maxim Group on Wednesday also hiked its Ondas price target to $22 from $16, representing 113% upside compared with Wednesday’s closing price of $10.31.

From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026

I looked at Maxim but he was reading his paper, he had folded it over to another page.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

Central bankers have been known to quote External link one of economist John Maynard Keynes’s most famous maxims: “When the facts change, I change my mind.”

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

There are equally eloquent maxims throughout Ms. White’s enjoyable collection.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026

Journalists, so those maxims go, should never make themselves the story or get too close to those they are covering.

From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2024

“He was so dedicated. He had all of these maxims, like ‘obstacles in the way become the way forward.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2024

I had a picture of Mrs. Willard, with her heather-mixture tweeds and her sensible shoes and her wise, maternal maxims.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

Related Words

• adage
• aphorism
• axiom
• dictum
• motto
• proverb
• theorem