maxim

See also: Maxim and màxim

English

WOTD – 13 November 2009

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Maxim (saying)

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæk.sɪm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmæk.sɪm/, /ˈmæk.səm/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman maxime and Middle French maxime, from Late Latin maxima (“axiom”), noun use of the feminine singular form of Latin maximus (apparently as used in the phrase prōpositiō maxima (“greatest premise”)). Doublet of maxima.

Noun

maxim (plural maxims)

1. (now rare) A self-evident axiom or premise; a pithy expression of a general principle or rule.
2. A precept; a succinct statement or observation of a rule of conduct or moral teaching.
   • 1776, Wealth of Nations‎, archived from the original on 26 June 2008, page 768:

     In every age and country of the world men must have attended to the characters, designs, and actions of one another, and many reputable rules and maxims for the conduct of human life, must have been laid down and approved of by common consent.

   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 42:

     It was impossible to imagine anything more cold or comfortless, while it was a task of no small dexterity to thread your way through the labyrinth of trunks, bandboxes, &c.; for it had of late years become a maxim with Lady Anne that nothing ought to be thrown or given away:...

   • 2024 May 6, Lt Flops, “Pursuing Ghosts, Part II”, in SCP Foundation‎, archived from the original on 2 June 2024:

     Those maxims lurch through my head like rivers of lava. Those smarmy, know-it-all maxims. Trivia disguised as deeply held wisdom.

Synonyms

• (precept, succinct statement): Synonym: aphorism, cliche, enthymeme, proverb, saying
• See also Thesaurus:saying

Derived terms

• maxim worker
• Shannon's maxim
• Skinner's maxim
• submaxim
• supermaxim

Translations

moral precept

Arabic: حِكْمَة f (ḥikma) Bulgarian: сентенция (bg) f (sentencija) Chinese: Mandarin: 格言 (zh) (géyán), 箴言 (zh) (zhēnyán), 金言 (zh) (jīnyán), 座右銘 / 座右铭 (zh) (zuòyòumíng), 警句 (zh) (jǐngjù) Czech: maxim (cs) m, poučka f Danish: maksime c Esperanto: maksimo Finnish: maksiimi (fi) French: maxime (fr) f German: Maxime (de) f, Grundsatz (de) m Italian: massima (it) f, principio (it) m Japanese: 格言 (ja) (かくげん, kakugen) Korean: 격언 (ko) (gyeogeon) Latin: ēlogium n, dictum (la) n Macedonian: начело n (načelo), максима f (maksima) Norwegian: Bokmål: maksime (no) m, leveregel (no) m Nynorsk: maksime (no) m, leveregel (no) m Polish: maksyma (pl) f Portuguese: máxima (pt) f Romanian: maximă (ro) f, maxime f pl Russian: ма́ксима (ru) f (máksima), изрече́ние (ru) n (izrečénije), сенте́нция (ru) f (sentɛ́ncija) Spanish: máxima (es) f Swedish: maxim (sv) c Tagalog: pananabi Thai: คติบท

See also

• adage
• aphorism
• apophthegm

Etymology 2

From Sir Hiram Maxim.

Noun

maxim (plural maxims)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Maxim.