TRUTH

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Truth mean? 

• TRUTH (noun)
  The noun TRUTH has 5 senses:

1. a fact that has been verified

2. conformity to reality or actuality

3. a true statement

4. the quality of being near to the true value

5. United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery and became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women (1797-1883)

  Familiarity information: TRUTH used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRUTH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fact that has been verified

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

the truth is that he didn't want to do it

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

fact (a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred)

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

home truth (an important truth that is unpleasant to acknowledge (as about yourself))

verity (an enduring or necessary ethical or religious or aesthetic truth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Conformity to reality or actuality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

the true; trueness; truth; verity

Context example:

he turned to religion in his search for eternal verities

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

actuality (the state of actually existing objectively)

Attribute:

true (consistent with fact or reality; not false)

false (not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality)

Antonym:

falsity (the state of being false or untrue)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A true statement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

true statement; truth

Context example:

he thought of answering with the truth but he knew they wouldn't believe it

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

statement (a message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc)

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

gospel; gospel truth (an unquestionable truth)

tautology ((logic) a statement that is necessarily true)

truism (an obvious truth)

Antonym:

falsehood (a false statement)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The quality of being near to the true value

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

accuracy; truth

Context example:

the lawyer questioned the truth of my account

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

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Attribute:

accurate (conforming exactly or almost exactly to fact or to a standard or performing with total accuracy)

inaccurate (not accurate)

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

exactitude; exactness (the quality of being exact)

fidelity (accuracy with which an electronic system reproduces the sound or image of its input signal)

Sense 5

Meaning:

United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery and became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women (1797-1883)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Sojourner Truth; Truth

Instance hypernyms:

abolitionist; emancipationist (a reformer who favors abolishing slavery)

feminist; libber; women's liberationist; women's rightist (a supporter of feminism)

 Context examples 

To speak truth, sir, I don't understand you at all: I cannot keep up the conversation, because it has got out of my depth.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In truth, eclipses are like new and full moons on steroids.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Again the eyes looked at her sharply, and they saw she was telling the truth.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The truth was, that Elizabeth had been long enough in Bath to understand the importance of a man of such an air and appearance as his.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Then he answered, To tell the truth I did not cook it, but Cat-skin did.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I will keep well within the truth.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And one thing I might depend upon, that they would certainly tell me the truth, for lying was a talent of no use in the lower world.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

"Try again. Truth isn't a bad game," said Fred.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

But the truth is, that my father hardly knows them.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Long John told the story from first to last, with a great deal of spirit and the most perfect truth.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)