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:
That’s also true of the broader U.S. economy.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
The Spaniard's comments are largely true, of course, as we saw with Bassey.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
Almgren said last week that he chose to run New York rather than flatter, faster courses in Chicago or Valencia because he wanted a true race rather than a time trial.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
From that disharmony, “Everest: The Other Side” forges a uniquely human story of actualization at all costs, revealing the true price of a life spent looking up and not around.”
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026
“If it was a true emergency the caller will ring again,” she says.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
“There’s a great energy that comes from being in a room with people. I think it’s a different energy than anything else, particularly true and truer every day in the increasingly screen-based and mediated world.”
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026
“I think cats are like works of art that inspire you to be truer to yourself,” Meyer says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
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
As a spinner, he was brought into the XI for the turning conditions in Colombo but England's semi-final is likely to be on a truer surface in Mumbai on Thursday.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026
It was too late now not to follow this make-believe carpet to its plywood finale, and I did not yet know of any truer destination.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
But which version of her Fielder — and, by extension, the audience — sees, and which version is the truest, remains up for debate.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
Jan Morris once said that the British Empire’s truest morality, real or imagined, was the morality of fair play.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Lamb is a celebrity sheriff in its truest, most American sense.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
What we discovered instead was that the truest thing between us had always been friendship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
And black power births a kind of understanding that illuminates all the galaxies in their truest colors.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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
The trues had it: 70% in Caracas, 63% in Lima.
From Time Magazine Archive
"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
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
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
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
If there are two keys the edges and one face may be trued up as just described, and both keys k, Fig.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose
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
The first side face being trued, it should be placed against the fixed jaw while the other edge is shaped.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose
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
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
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
Slip the spider on the armature shaft and secure it solidly with the setscrew so that the shaft will not turn in the spider when truing up the armature core.
From The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 700 Things for Boys to Do by Popular Mechanics Co.
Power grindstones usually have truing devices attached to them, Fig.
From Handwork in Wood by William Noyes
Keep the dummy up against the sides when truing it.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 315, January 14, 1882 by Various
A balance of this description may be poised as it is and often will produce better timing results than would be gained by perfect truing and subsequent regulation during readjustment of the metals.
From Rules and Practice for Adjusting Watches by Walter J. Kleinlein
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