as in cliché
an idea or expression that has been used by many people
"blondes have more fun" is a silly platitude
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of platitude
This is now a political war that has escalated far beyond the ethical platitudes some use to argue against Proposition 50.
—
Marc Lampe, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Oct. 2025
Continue reading … BLIND LOYALTY – Karine Jean-Pierre has rocky rollout for book as reviews pan Biden defense, platitudes.
—FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2025
Survivors need concrete safety and justice, not spiritual platitudes.
—Ed Gaskin, Boston Herald, 19 Oct. 2025
My first true attempts at poetry were self-guided, painfully rhymed, drenched in abstractions and exhausted platitudes.
—Via Scribner, Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for platitude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for platitude
Noun
-
Warfare Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare is an admirable attempt to counter the truism that there’s no such thing as an anti-war movie — that all war movies, however gruesome or wrenching, effectively (and often unwittingly) wind up glamorizing combat to some degree.—
-
Kemp does warn his readers to be skeptical of truisms about the nature of history and the odds of apocalypse.—
Noun
-
Doping the Undopable The work focuses on cesium lead bromide nanoparticles known as CsPbBr3.—
-
There is a reason why the apocalyptic bromides about the state of print haven’t come to fruition, other than for disposable periodicals and newspapers.—
Noun
-
Openness comes from these encounters with banality and consistency.—
-
As far back as the Victorian era, exchanging a few banalities was part of a veritable social code—a way of signaling both politeness and boundaries.—
Noun
-
The 1945 War Brides Act largely diverged from these previous measures, helping to dismantle the Asian exclusion made commonplace in the 19th and early 20th centuries.—
-
In the last year, after all, heartrending images like these have become part of the ordinary, the everyday, the commonplace.—
Noun
-
There is so much pleasure to be had in rereading old favorites—and part of the joy is meeting beloved characters, who have been updated or somehow arrive in a new form to resist old tropes and types.—
-
The other one that happens to me more regularly is seeing common tropes or scenarios from the media and tipping them just slightly on their side.—
Noun
-
Turnovers come in bunches, the saying goes.—
-
Kids can be cruel, as the old saying goes.—
Cite this Entry
“Platitude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/platitude. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
