true
Americanadjective
-
being in accordance with the actual state or conditions; conforming to reality or fact; not false.
a true story.
-
real; genuine; authentic.
true gold; true feelings.
-
sincere; not deceitful.
a true interest in someone's welfare.
- Synonyms:
- honest
-
firm in allegiance; loyal; faithful; steadfast.
a true friend.
- Synonyms:
- steady, constant, staunch, trustworthy
-
being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something.
the true meaning of his statement.
-
conforming to or consistent with a standard, pattern, or the like.
a true copy.
-
exact; precise; accurate; correct.
a true balance.
- Synonyms:
- faithful
-
of the right kind; such as it should be; proper.
to arrange things in their true order.
-
properly so called; rightly answering to a description.
true statesmanship.
-
legitimate or rightful.
the true heir.
-
reliable, unfailing, or sure.
a true sign.
-
exactly or accurately shaped, formed, fitted, or placed, as a surface, instrument, or part of a mechanism.
-
honest; honorable; upright.
-
Biology. conforming to the type, norm, or standard of structure of a particular group; typical.
The lion is a true cat.
-
Animal Husbandry. purebred.
-
Navigation. (of a bearing, course, etc.) determined in relation to true north.
-
Archaic. truthful.
noun
-
exact or accurate formation, position, or adjustment.
to be out of true.
-
the true, something that is true; truth.
adverb
-
in a true manner; truly; truthfully.
-
exactly or accurately.
-
in conformity with the ancestral type.
to breed true.
verb (used with object)
-
trues,
present (3rd person singular)
-
trued,
past participle, past
-
trueing,
present participle
-
truing
present participle
-
to make true; shape, adjust, place, etc., exactly or accurately.
to true the wheels of a bicycle after striking a pothole.
-
(especially in carpentry) to make even, symmetrical, level, etc. (often followed byup ).
to true up the sides of a door.
idioms
adjective
-
not false, fictional, or illusory; factual or factually accurate; conforming with reality
-
(prenominal) being of real or natural origin; genuine; not synthetic
true leather
-
-
unswervingly faithful and loyal to friends, a cause, etc
a true follower
-
( as collective noun ; preceded by the )
the loyal and the true
-
-
faithful to a particular concept of truth, esp of religious truth
a true believer
-
conforming to a required standard, law, or pattern
a true aim
a true fit
-
exactly in tune
a true note
-
(of a compass bearing) according to the earth's geographical rather than magnetic poles
true north
-
biology conforming to the typical structure of a designated type
sphagnum moss is a true moss, Spanish moss is not
-
physics not apparent or relative; taking into account all complicating factors Compare apparent
the true expansion of a liquid takes into account the expansion of the container
-
informal unbelievable; remarkable
she's got so much money it's not true
-
exactly comparable with reality
noun
adverb
-
truthfully; rightly
-
precisely or unswervingly
he shot true
-
biology without variation from the ancestral type
to breed true
verb
Synonym Usage
See real 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
truesimple
-
truessimple
-
have truedperfect
-
has truedperfect
-
am trueingprogressive
-
am truingprogressive
-
are trueingprogressive
-
are truingprogressive
-
is trueingprogressive
-
is truingprogressive
-
have been trueingperfect progressive
-
have been truingperfect progressive
-
has been trueingperfect progressive
-
has been truingperfect progressive
Past
-
truedsimple
-
had truedperfect
-
was trueingprogressive
-
was truingprogressive
-
were trueingprogressive
-
were truingprogressive
-
had been trueingperfect progressive
-
had been truingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of true
before 900; Middle English trewe (adj. and adv.), Old English trēowe (adj.) loyal, trusty, honest ( trow, truce ); akin to Dutch trouw, German treu, Old Norse tryggr, Gothic triggws
Explanation
Things that are true are accurate, honest, and correct. There are many specific meanings, but when something is true, you can believe it. This word has many meanings, but they're all pretty much the opposite of false. True statements can be proven or verified — they aren't lies. To sing true is to sing on-key, and a true throw is on-target. The true king is the real king, not a fake. A true friend can be trusted. A true believer really believes in something, like a religion. And when you're true to yourself, you're being honest about what you want and feel.
Vocabulary lists containing true
"Encounter"
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You Are Correct! Synonyms for "Right"
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Christine McVie (1943–2022) Tribute List
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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.
See Examples For:
But like her tabletop sport of choice, the true skill is knowing how to dust yourself off, rally and win.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
That is golf’s true power: its ability to inflict humility upon all of us.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
As the night grows black and the last embers start to dull, “Her Private Hell” sends you off to bed wondering if it could all be true.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
The same is true of Shea Lacey, the 19-year-old academy star who clearly needs to be eased in gradually, but of whom so much is expected.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
“We are in need of a true friend,” she writes.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
It is a truer gauge of the sector versus a more widely cited ETF External link, which is heavily weighted toward Amazon.com External link and Tesla.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
But look past all that technical prowess, and you’ll find a remarkably introspective story about the complexities of integrity, examining the choices we make and the sacrifices we endure to become truer versions of ourselves.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
The primacy of youth was never truer than in the Romantic era.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
A truer picture of the potential job losses may be in the number of central-office positions that are being “closed” or eliminated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2026
And so we scramble to do what he says, because red-handed is red-handed, and this is martial law, and Jacqui’s motivational poster is truer than anything right now.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
As Lawson said of the novel 125 years ago, “the book is true to Australia—the truest I ever read.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Lamb is a celebrity sheriff in its truest, most American sense.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
"It's a team in the truest sense of the word. There are no big stars, no freeloaders," Skauge said.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
For birthdays, though, the truest success metric is simple: people linger.
From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2026
But something made him settle on the thing that felt the truest: “Because I was always afraid around you. Afraid Josie would like you better than me.”
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The trues had it: 70% in Caracas, 63% in Lima.
From Time Magazine Archive
Just three logical functions, called AND, OR and NOT, are needed to process Boole's "trues" and "falses," or Is and Os.
From Time Magazine Archive
I have lived with our trues heroes—the lower middle-classes.”
From The First Violin A Novel by Jessie Fothergill
And if peoples 'zinks so much about trues, they shouldn't vant me to say what isn't true about being in fun when I wasn't in fun.
From Hoodie by Lewis Christopher Edward Baumer
"I don't care," were among the first words Cousin Magdalen made out clearly, "there isn't two trues, and what I'm telling is real true true, as true as true."
From Hoodie by Lewis Christopher Edward Baumer
If you've had your Banshee cylinder trued and welded, put the crank into the bottom case and rotate the crank using the rods to do so.
From Time Magazine Archive
With the pyramids the Egyptians created gigantic scientific instruments for measuring the solar year, building their sides trued to the four cardinal directions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Using the Lap.—The roller thus made is turned rapidly in a lathe, and the cylinder to be trued is brought up to it and the roller supplied freely with emery powder and oil.
From Practical Mechanics for Boys by James Slough Zerbe
After the concrete had been rounded in place, the form was removed and the invert trued up.
From Concrete Construction Methods and Costs by Halbert Powers Gillette
If they are trued in a low temperature they will be out of true and possibly out of poise in the temperature to which they are mostly subjected.
From Rules and Practice for Adjusting Watches by Walter J. Kleinlein
Presently he turned and spoke to the man: “Put your men at work trueing up the roadbed on the next section back, until further orders.”
From 'Firebrand' Trevison by P. V. E. (Percy Van Eman) Ivory
Some were engaged in "trueing" the four great foundation beams of what was evidently to be a large building.
From The Westerners by Stewart Edward White
Her strappy sandals are making lots of noise as she runs around the class looking for a truing wheel--to give her pattern the appropriate curve.
From Time Magazine Archive
FUSELAGE.—The method of truing the fuselage is laid down in the aeroplane's specifications.
From The Aeroplane Speaks by H. (Horatio) Barber
Mention has been previously made of the importance of truing both valve head and seat before attempt is made to refit the parts by grinding.
From Aviation Engines Design?Construction?Operation and Repair by Victor Wilfred Pag?
It is sometimes impracticable to make a surface as smooth as desirable with a truing plane, because of the direction of the grain of the wood.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose
That is the genius and the glory of the artisan, to perfect each detail ad unguem, like a poet truing up a sonnet.
From The Cup of Fury A Novel of Cities and Shipyards by Henry Raleigh
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.
