(n.) A comprehensive maxim or principle expressed in a few words; a sharply defined sentence relating to abstract truth rather than to practical matters.
Example Sentences:
(1) For the man who created the " specialist in failure " aphorism to disparage a fellow manager, it is obvious how much that would hurt.
(2) His most celebrated aphorism was his response to a journalist who wondered whether Christian Democrats would ever be weary of wielding power: "Political power wears out only those who haven't got it."
(3) She is thinking about a book of aphorisms, for which Spark characters such as Mrs Hawkins and Miss Jean Brodie are famous.
(4) His aphorisms include the following: "may your food be your medicine".
(5) When we sit down for a more formal interview in his Manhattan hotel room a few hours later, Ross's earlier gregarious anecdotes are replaced by aphorisms that could come straight off one of those inspirational posters you see in recruitment consultant offices.
(6) I just thought up a nonsensical Confucian-sounding aphorism and said it in a grossly exaggerated version of my dad's voice.
(7) Greg Dyke must put plug in Qatar talk if Fifa revamp is to unite the world | Barney Ronay Read more Like Blatter, Dyke can lapse into mystifyingly abstract aphorisms.
(8) One cheering side-effect of economic depression, is that it provides occasion to recall Keynes's sideline in Wildean aphorisms.
(9) Vidal's critics disparaged his tendency to formulate an aphorism rather than to argue, finding in his work an underlying note of contempt for those who did not agree with him.
(10) It's an aphorism the ex-head of the civil service proved wrong.
(11) Much of that is down to Dupuis who, in a genre where bland aphorisms are often the norm, actually has something to say.
(12) Twain was always a barometric writer, with a knack for registering contemporary social pressures in sharp-eyed aphorisms that weren't merely quotable, but often well ahead of their time.
(13) The old aphorism is still valid: When in doubt, take it out.
(14) Which in turn helps partially to explain the significance of the aphorism: 'An Argentine is an Italian who speaks Spanish and thinks he is an Englishman.'
(15) Now they are the stalest of cliches, but when, in the first 1998 episode, in the midst of all that big hair and weird brown lipstick, you hear Carrie first describe the allure and disappointment of "toxic bachelors", when Samantha first says frankly that she likes to have sex without emotion, to "fuck like a man", it was bitingly fresh for women to speak these aphorisms out loud, in public, and in fabulous heels.
(16) Elizabeth is prone to blurting out aphorisms, such as "it's easier to give a blow job than make coffee" and "you should be just as happy with the breasts you have as you are with the futility of existence".
(17) In its submission to the special session, Colombia quotes Albert Einstein’s aphorism that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”.
(18) Aphorisms often appear too trite to tell us anything meaningful, yet this is not the case with the assertion attributed to Mahatma Gandhi that "the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members".
(19) The files disclose that Thatcher's first months in power reveal a torrent of pungent political aphorisms that were to sustain her in power for the next 13 years.
(20) It was a favourite Reagan aphorism, sometimes half-true, sometimes a disastrous basis for policy in a globally connected, ever more sophisticated world.
Laconic
Definition:
(a.) Alt. of Laconical
(n.) Laconism.
Example Sentences:
(1) Parties seek a sharper definition and a clearer purpose: voters rightly demand a reason to rule beyond Cameron’s laconic “because I thought I’d be good at it”.
(2) Just over two years later, Harvey, a 29-year-old with a laconic line in humour, can look back on it and joke about it.
(3) Miles, who spoke laconically and without passion, recommended that the tubes remain in place for several weeks at a stretch to minimize risk to a detainee.
(4) The author has revealed a classification based on systematization of most frequently observed pathology, that allows a laconic functional and topical diagnosis and provides phlebological patients with individualized treatment.
(5) As Clarke Reed, the former chair of the Mississippi Republican party who played a key role in the last contested convention in 1976, told the Guardian far more laconically, a contested convention this year is “likely to lead to all kinds of games being played”.
(6) Wittgenstein's reply is said to have been the laconic but absurdly cheerful: "Great!
(7) Spoofing the popular media that lamented the loss of a "great statesman", the weekly's headline laconically read: "Tragic ball at Colombey, one dead".
(8) You must have known,” Price says – laconic, nasal, one leg casually hitched up on the bench, endlessly jingling coins in his pocket – “that to give a senior public figure an arrest warning could lead to a complaint direct to the commissioner’s office.” Do you not see how important Mr Mitchell is?
(9) Kean dismissed the gesture with a laconic: "I didn't notice it."
(10) "We've all read the same spy novels," one said laconically.
(11) Mackenzie flew to Brazil this week as Ferreira came under increasing fire from local authorities, residents and media for what many saw as a laconic response to one of the South American nation’s worst mining disasters.
(12) Greater dementia severity in the SRD subjects was associated with laconic speech that was syntactially less complex.
(13) Probably not a good idea,” says a suitably laconic Chris Pratt in the trailer, which probably tells you everything you need to know here.
(14) Downing Street clarified the statement by laconically pointing out that "it's hardly surprising that UKTI DSO are seeking to promote defence exports – that's their job".
(15) At one point, Focus revealedon Monday, he had asked laconically why the police couldn't have waited until he was dead.
(16) Don’t expect a wild change of tack from Cohen, who turns 80 the day before the album comes out – Popular Problems is as laconic and gravelly as ever.
(17) From the start he was academically brilliant, in his off-beat and laconically concise way.
(18) At the end of a drive to Yucca, Arizona, 200 miles south-east of Vegas, we swung through the ranch gate and climbed out to a laconic “Howdy” from a cowpoke who introduced himself as Tex, the head wrangler.
(19) Official coverage in Russia of Novodvorskaya's passing has been muted, and President Putin's office issued a laconic statement .
(20) The problem with Dave is he’s so laconic, which I discovered recently is a posh person’s way of calling someone bone idle.