platitude

Etymology

It is borrowed from French platitude (“flatness, vapidness”),^[2][3][4] recorded in French in the sense of dullness in 1694 and as a dull remark in 1740.^[2] The French noun is formed from plat (“flat”) and -itude,^[2][5] on the model of latitude,^[3][4][6] certitude and exactitude.^[7][8] The adjective goes back to Old French plat,^[4][5] which the American Heritage Dictionary takes from Vulgar Latin *plattus, and that from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “flat, broad”);^[9] Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls the Greek step probable.^[5] The same adjective is the source of plate and plateau.^[3][9] German Platitüde is also from French.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dullness or insipidity, especially in speech or writing: 1762, in a letter of Laurence Sterne dated 19 October.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged has the same year,^[5] while Barnhart and Etymonline begin with 1812.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The French literal meaning, flatness, was transferred to flat, lifeless language, and that is the sense in which English took it.^[4][8] The sense of a single dull remark followed: unassimilated uses appear in the Monthly Review of 1788, "what the French call a platitude", and in Edgeworth's Belinda of 1801,^[2] and the first naturalised record is from 1815.^[2][3] The word now often implies a truism delivered as if it were new or important.^[3][8] Its derivatives came in the mid-19th century: platitudinarian in 1855, platitudinous in 1862 and platitudinize in 1867.^[3]

Timeline

• 1762 – dullness, insipidity, banality.^[2][5] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1812.^[4][3]
• 1815 – a dull, commonplace or trivial remark.^[2][3]
• 1855 – platitudinarian, one who indulges in platitudes.^[3]
• 1862 – platitudinous.^[3]
• 1867 – platitudinize.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dull, trite or obvious remark, especially one made as if it were important: His speech was little more than a string of platitudes.^{[10][5][2][8]}
2. The quality of being dull or insipid, especially in thought or language; triteness.^{[10][5][2][8]}

Word family

• platitudinous
• platitudinously

Related words

• platitudinal
• platitudinarian
• platitudinize
• plate
• plateau
• plat

Usage notes

Fowler, quoted by Etymonline, separates it from commonplace: a commonplace is what is regularly said on certain occasions and may be useful, whereas a platitude convicts its speaker of dullness by being stated as if it were enlightening, and is never valuable.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins