AXIOM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does axiom mean? 

• AXIOM (noun)
  The noun AXIOM has 2 senses:

1. a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits

2. (logic) a proposition that is not susceptible of proof or disproof; its truth is assumed to be self-evident

  Familiarity information: AXIOM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AXIOM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A saying that is widely accepted on its own merits

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

axiom; maxim

Hypernyms ("axiom" is a kind of...):

expression; locution; saying (a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "axiom"):

aphorism; apophthegm; apothegm (a short pithy instructive saying)

gnome (a short pithy saying expressing a general truth)

moralism (a moral maxim)

Derivation:

axiomatic (containing aphorisms or maxims)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(logic) a proposition that is not susceptible of proof or disproof; its truth is assumed to be self-evident

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("axiom" is a kind of...):

proposition ((logic) a statement that affirms or denies something and is either true or false)

Domain category:

logic (the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "axiom"):

Euclid's axiom; Euclid's postulate; Euclidean axiom ((mathematics) any of five axioms that are generally recognized as the basis for Euclidean geometry)

Derivation:

axiomatic (evident without proof or argument)

axiomatic; axiomatical (of or relating to or derived from axioms)

 Context examples 

We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An axiom that indicates the end of an event, visit or study element.

(End Rule, NCI Thesaurus)

There is an opposite axiom that says, “When in doubt do nothing,” and that works when a situation is still developing and where you need more information.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

“It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To accomplish the change was like a reflux of being, and this when the plasticity of youth was no longer his; when the fibre of him had become tough and knotty; when the warp and the woof of him had made of him an adamantine texture, harsh and unyielding; when the face of his spirit had become iron and all his instincts and axioms had crystallised into set rules, cautions, dislikes, and desires.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

However, having both Saturn and Pluto gazing at 180 degrees across the sky at the time of the full moon brings another layer of credence to the axiom that you are receiving a nonnegotiable message—one that is final and true—and you’ll need to adapt to changing circumstances.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)