truth Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a fact that has been verified
    • at last he knew the truth
    • the truth is that he didn't want to do it
  2. noun conformity to reality or actuality
    trueness; the true; verity.
    • they debated the truth of the proposition
    • the situation brought home to us the blunt truth of the military threat
    • he was famous for the truth of his portraits
    • he turned to religion in his search for eternal verities
  3. noun a true statement
    true statement.
    • he told the truth
    • he thought of answering with the truth but he knew they wouldn't believe it
  4. noun the quality of being near to the true value
    accuracy.
    • he was beginning to doubt the accuracy of his compass
    • the lawyer questioned the truth of my account
  5. noun 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)
    Sojourner Truth.

WordNet

Truth noun
Etymology
OE. treuthe, trouthe, treowpe, AS. treów. See True; cf. Troth, Betroth.
Wordforms
plural Truths
Definitions
  1. The quality or being true; as: -- (a) Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been; or shall be. (b) Conformity to rule; exactness; close correspondence with an example, mood, object of imitation, or the like.
    Plows, to go true, depend much on the truth of the ironwork. Mortimer.
    (c) Fidelity; constancy; steadfastness; faithfulness.
    Alas! they had been friends in youth, But whispering tongues can poison truth. Coleridge.
    (d) The practice of speaking what is true; freedom from falsehood; veracity.
    If this will not suffice, it must appear That malice bears down truth. Shak.
  2. That which is true or certain concerning any matter or subject, or generally on all subjects; real state of things; fact; verity; reality.
    Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor. Zech. viii. 16.
    I long to know the truth here of at large. Shak.
    The truth depends on, or is only arrived at by, a legitimate deduction from all the facts which are truly material. Coleridge.
  3. A true thing; a verified fact; a true statement or proposition; an established principle, fixed law, or the like; as, the great truths of morals.
    Even so our boasting . . . is found a truth. 2 Cor. vii. 14.
  4. Righteousness; true religion.
    Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John i. 17.
    Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. John xvii. 17.
    He that doeth truth cometh to the light. John iii. 21.
Truth transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To assert as true; to declare. R.
    Had they [the ancients] dreamt this, they would have truthed it heaven. Ford.

Webster 1913