
[French, from plat, flat, from Old French. See plate.]
platitudinous plat'i·tu'di·nous (-tūd'n-əs, -tyūd'-) or plat'i·tu'di·nal (-tūd'n-əl, -tyūd'-) adj.
noun
Definition: dullness; overused saying
Antonyms: coinage, nuance
n.
The fundamental element and special glory of popular literature. A thought that snores in words that smoke. The wisdom of a million fools in the diction of a dullard. A fossil sentiment in artificial rock. A moral without the fable. All that is mortal of a departed truth. A demi-tasse of milk-and-mortality. The Pope's-nose of a featherless peacock. A jelly-fish withering on the shore of the sea of thought. The cackle surviving the egg. A desiccated epigram.
Quotes:
"In spite of his practical ability, some of his experience had petrified into maxims and quotations."
- George Eliot
"The Republicans stroke platitudes until they purr like epigrams."
- Adlai E. Stevenson
"In modern life nothing produces such an effect as a good platitude. It makes the whole world kin."
- Oscar Wilde

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| Look up platitude in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
A platitude is a trite, meaningless, biased, or prosaic statement, often presented as if it were significant and original. The word derives from plat, the French word for "flat." Whether any given statement is considered to have meaning is highly subjective, so platitude is often—but not always—used as a pejorative term to describe seemingly profound statements that a certain person views as unoriginal or shallow. Examples of statements which could be considered platitudes could be "The power of friendship", "Go with the flow", "Everything happens for a reason", "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be", and "We need to do what we can do."
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - floskel, banalitet
Nederlands (Dutch)
nietszeggende opmerking (platheid), het gebruik van platheden, het saai/ nietszeggend zijn
Français (French)
n. - platitude, lieu commun
Deutsch (German)
n. - Platitüde, Gemeinplatz
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κοινοτοπία, τετριμμένη έκφραση
Português (Portuguese)
n. - lugar comum (m), trivialidade (f)
Español (Spanish)
n. - tópico, lugar común
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - plattityd
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
单调, 陈腐, 平凡
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 單調, 陳腐, 平凡
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 単調, 平凡, 陳腐, 平凡な説, きまり文句
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) تفاهه, ابتذال, ملاحظه مبتذله
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - שטחיות, שגרתיות, אמרה חבוטה, משפט בנלי
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