What's the difference between aphorism and maxim?

Aphorism


Definition:

  • (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.

Maxim


Definition:

  • (n.) An established principle or proposition; a condensed proposition of important practical truth; an axiom of practical wisdom; an adage; a proverb; an aphorism.
  • (n.) The longest note formerly used, equal to two longs, or four breves; a large.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) We maximize an objective function that includes both total production rate and product concentration.
  • (2) Further, the maximal increase in force of contraction was measured using papillary muscle strips from some of these patients.
  • (3) Radioligand binding studies revealed the presence of a single class of high-affinity (Kd = 2-6 X 10(-10) M) binding sites for ET-1 in both cells, although the maximal binding capacity of cardiac receptor was about 6- to 12-fold greater than that of vascular receptor.
  • (4) Maximal yields of lipid and aflatoxin were obtained with 30% glucose, whereas mold growth, expressed as dry weight, was maximal when the medium contained 10% glucose.
  • (5) Maximal aberration yields were observed for 2,4-diaminotoluene, 2,6-diaminotoluene and cytosine beta-D-arabinofuranoside from 17 to 21 h, eugenol from 15 to 21 h, cadmium sulfate from 15 to 24 h and 2-aminobiphenyl, from 17 to 24 h. For adriamycin at 1 microM, the % aberrant cells remained elevated throughout the period from 9 to 29 h, while small increases at 0.1 microM ADR were found only at 13 and at 25 h. For most chemicals the maximal aberration yield occurred at a different time for each concentration tested.
  • (6) Maximal covalent binding of [4,5-14C]ronidazole to DNA also required four-electron reduction, consistent with previous studies of the covalent binding of this agent to immobilized sulfhydryl groups [Kedderis et al.
  • (7) The Cao-dependent Na+ efflux was half-maximally activated by [Ca2+]o = 2.0 mM in LiSW and 7.2 mM in Tris-SW; at saturating [Ca2+]o, [Ca2+]i, and [Na+]i the maximal (calculated) Cao-dependent Na+ efflux was approximately 75 pmol#cm2.s.
  • (8) Short incubations with heparin (5 min) caused a release of the enzyme into the media, while longer incubations caused a 2-8-fold increase in net lipoprotein lipase secretion which was maximal after 2-16 h depending on cell type, and persisted for 24 h. The effect of heparin was dose-dependent and specific (it was not duplicated by other glycosaminoglycans).
  • (9) Combining maximally effective concentrations of each of these stimulating agents produces an additive increase in both the level of 32P incorporation into tyrosine hydroxylase and the degree of activation of the enzyme.
  • (10) Using serial section electron microscopic reconstructions as a reference, we have chosen as our standard procedure a method that maximizes both the preservation of the cytoskeleton and the proportion of cells staining, while minimizing the degree of nonspecific staining.
  • (11) Basal and maximally insulin-stimulated rates of 3-O-methylglucose transport in adipocytes from obese and obese NIDDM subjects were reduced to 50% of the values in cells from normal subjects (P less than 0.05).
  • (12) We assumed that the sensory messages received at a given level are transformed by a stochastic process, called Alopex, in a way which maximizes responses in central feature analyzers.
  • (13) Both gp175 and gp250 showed the greatest increase in fucosylation at 10(-5) M, which was also the dose at which RA induced laminin maximally, while the fucosylation of gp400 was greatest at 10(-8) M RA and declined at higher concentrations.
  • (14) However, those studies used partial maximal expiratory flow volume (PMEFV) curves to assess lung function.
  • (15) Hyperosmolar buffer slightly increased the sensitivity and maximal response to methacholine as well as the cholinergic twitch to electric field stimulation.
  • (16) Cytosolic-to-mitochondrial ratios from maximal initial rates after correction for mitochondrial breakage were increased above controls in diabetic hearts for nucleoside diphosphokinase and aspartate aminotransferase.
  • (17) The drug-picrate chromophores maximally absorb within the first minute of reaction (21 s for phenacemide, 45 s for cephalothin), after which the absorbances decrease.
  • (18) Glucagon can raise intracellular cyclic AMP about 30-fold; a half-maximal effect is obtained with 1.5 nM hormone.
  • (19) Keeping calcium concentration constant in the medium (0.36 microM), ornithine transport was maximal at 5.0 microM L-arginine and decreased at higher concentrations of arginine.
  • (20) Immediately prior to and at maximal workloads, carbon monoxide shifted into extravascular spaces and returned to the vascular space within five minutes after exercise stopped.