Adage Meaning
/ˈæd.ɪd͡ʒ/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn old saying which has obtained credit by long use.
nounAn old saying which has been overused or considered a cliché; a trite maxim.
Sentence Examples
The adage "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched" had never been so apt.
Ziri knows the adage.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old ____ 'haste makes waste' perfectly explains why rushing through the project led to so many errors.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
There is an old ____ that says 'honesty is the best policy'.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French adage, from Latin adā̆gium.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"He describes the operation thus: "The heavy ram employed to impart the finishing strokes, hoisted up with double purchase and snail's pace to the summit of the Piling Engine, and then falling down like a thunderbolt on the head of the devoted timber, driving it perhaps a single half inch in to the stratum below, is well calculated to put to the test the virtue of patience, while it illustrates the old adage of—slow and sure.""
— 1952 July, W. R. Watson, “Sankey Viaduct and Embankment”, in Railway Magazine, page 487:
"Like the poore Cat i’ th’ Addage."
— c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vii], page 135:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The old ____ 'haste makes waste' perfectly explains why rushing through the project led to so many errors.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
There is an old ____ that says 'honesty is the best policy'.