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, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English trewe, from Old English trīewe, (Mercian) trēowe (“trusty, faithful”), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiz (compare Saterland Frisian trjou (“honest”), Dutch getrouw and trouw, German treu, Norwegian and Swedish trygg (“safe, secure’”), from pre-Germanic *drewh₂yos, from Proto-Indo-European *drewh₂- (“steady, firm”) (compare Irish dearbh (“sure”), Old Prussian druwis (“faith”), Ancient Greek δροόν (droón, “firm”)), extension of *dóru (“tree”) (possibly also Proto-Slavic *sъdorvъ (“healthy”) from the same root). More at tree.
For the semantic development, compare Latin robustus (“tough”) from robur (“red oak”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
true (comparative truer or more true, superlative truest or most true)
- (of a statement) Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.
This is a true story.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 110:The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […]. Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.
2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. […] One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful.
- As an ellipsis of "(while) it is true (that)", used to start a sentence
True, I have only read part of the book, but I like it so far.
- Conforming to a rule or pattern; exact; accurate.
a true copy; a true likeness of the original
1820, Walter Scott, chapter XI, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. , volume I, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. , →OCLC, page 229:[…] making his eye, foot, and hand keep true time […]
- (logic) Of the state in Boolean logic that indicates an affirmative or positive result.
"A and B" is true if and only if "A" is true and "B" is true.
- Loyal, faithful.
He’s turned out to be a true friend.
- Genuine; legitimate; valid; sensu stricto.
The true king has returned!
This is true Parmesan cheese — it is from the Parma region.
1568, William Cornysh, “In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe [...]”, in John Skelton, edited by J[ohn] S[tow], Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate, Imprinted at London: In Fletestreate, neare vnto Saint Dunstones Churche by Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished as Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry the VIIIth, London: Printed for C. Davis in Pater-noster Row, 1736, →OCLC, page 290:The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunyng of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge
2012 January, Henry Petroski, “The Washington Monument”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 16:The Washington Monument is often described as an obelisk, and sometimes even as a “true obelisk,” even though it is not. A true obelisk is a monolith, a pylon formed out of a single piece of stone.
- (biology) Used in the designation of group of species, or sometimes a single species, to indicate that it belongs to the clade its common name (which may be more broadly scoped in common speech) is restricted to in technical speech, or to distinguish it from a similar species, the latter of which may be called false.
The true bugs are those of the order Hemiptera; and, by some lights, most truly those of the suborder Heteroptera.
- (of an aim or missile in archery, shooting, golf, etc.) Accurate; following a path toward the target.
1801, Mrs. Cowley, “The siege of Acre”, in The British Critic, volumes 17-18, page 521:Whate'er the weapon, still his aim was true, Nor e'er in vain the fatal bullet flew.
2008, Carl Hiaasen, The downhill lie: a hacker's return to a ruinous sport, page 188:I held my breath and struck the ball. My aim was true, but I didn't give the damn thing enough gas. It died three feet from the cup.
- (of a mechanical part) Correctly aligned or calibrated, without deviation.
Is my bike wheel true? It feels unsteady.
- (chiefly probability) Fair, unbiased, not loaded.
1990, William W. S. Wei, Time Series Analysis, →ISBN, page 8:Let be twice the value of a true die shown on the -th toss.
2006, Judith A. Baer, Leslie Friedman Goldstein, The Constitutional and Legal Rights of Women: Cases in Law and Social Change, →ISBN:In fact, few profit margins can be predicted with such reliability as those provided by a true roulette wheel or other game of chance.
2012, Peter Sprent, Applied Nonparametric Statistical Methods, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 5:We do not reject, because 9 heads and 3 tails is in a set of reasonably likely results when we toss a true coin.
- (of a literary genre) based on actual historical events.
true crime
true romance
1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 69:[A] skinny blonde of about twenty sitting in an armchair by an electric fire reading a true romance magazine.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
concurring with a given set of facts
- Abkhaz: аиаша (ajaŝa)
- Acehnese: beuna
- Albanian: vërtetë (sq)
- Amharic: እውነት (ʾəwnät)
- Arabic: حَقّ (ar) (ḥaqq), صَحِيح (ar) (ṣaḥīḥ), صَادِق (ar) (ṣādiq)
- Egyptian Arabic: حقيقي (ḥaʔīʔi)
- Aramaic:
- Hebrew: שרירא m (sharīrā, sharīro), שרירתא f (sharīrtā, sharīrto)
- Syriac: ܫܪܝܪܐ m (sharīrā, sharīro), ܫܪܝܪܬܐ f (sharīrtā, sharīrto)
- Armenian: ճիշտ (hy) (čišt), իրական (hy) (irakan)
- Assamese: আচল (asol), সঁচা (xõsa)
- Azerbaijani: doğru (az), düzgün (az), həqiqi (az)
- Bashkir: ысын (ısın)
- Basque: egiazko
- Belarusian: ве́рны (vjérny), сапра́ўдны (be) (sapráŭdny), праўдзі́вы (praŭdzívy)
- Breton: gwir (br)
- Bulgarian: ве́рен (bg) (véren), и́стински (bg) (ístinski), правди́в (bg) (pravdív)
- Burmese: ဟုတ် (my) (hut)
- Catalan: vertader (ca), veritable (ca)
- Chamicuro: akachelo'ta
- Cherokee: ᎤᏙᎯᏳ (udohiyu)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 真 (zh) (zhēn), 真實/真实 (zh) (zhēnshí)
- Chuukese: ennet
- Cornish: gwir
- Czech: pravdivý (cs) m
- Danish: sand (da)
- Dutch: echt (nl), waar (nl)
- Esperanto: vera (eo)
- Fijian: dina
- Finnish: tosi (fi), tosi-, totuudenmukainen (fi)
- French: vrai (fr)
- Friulian: vêr
- Galician: verdadeiro
- Georgian: ნამდვილი (namdvili), მართალი (martali), ჭეშმარიტი (č̣ešmariṭi)
- German: wahr (de), echt (de), richtig (de), zutreffend (de), stimmig, wahrheitsgemäß (de), wahrhaftig (de), korrekt (de)
- Gothic: 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌾𐌹𐍃 (sunjis)
- Greek: αληθινός (el) (alithinós)
- Ancient: ἀληθής (alēthḗs), ἀληθινός (alēthinós), ὤν (ṓn), ἐτεός (eteós), ἐτήτυμος (etḗtumos) (poetic), ἔτυμος (étumos) (poetic), ὀρθός (orthós)
- Haitian Creole: vre
- Hebrew: נכון (he) (nakhón)
- Higaonon: bunal
- Hindi: ठीक (hi) (ṭhīk), सच (hi) (sac), सही (hi) (sahī)
- Hungarian: igaz (hu)
- Icelandic: sannur (is)
- Indonesian: benar (id)
- Ingrian: tosi
- Iranun: benar
- Irish: fíor
- Italian: vero (it)
- Japanese: 真実の (ja) (しんじつの, shinjitsu-no), 本当な (ja) (ほんとうな, hontō-na)
- Kapampangan: tutu
- Khmer: ពិត (km) (pɨt), ពិតមែន (pɨt mɛɛn)
- Korean: 참되다 (ko) (chamdoeda), 바르다 (ko) (bareuda), 진실의 (ko) (jinsirui)
- Latin: vērus (la)
- Latvian: patiess
- Lombard: ver (lmo)
- Malay: benar
- Maori: pono (mi)
- Maranao: benar, betol, totoo
- Mongolian: үнэн (mn) (ünen)
- Occitan: vertadièr (oc)
- Odia: ଠିକ (or) (ṭhikô)
- Old English: sōþ
- Persian: صحیح (fa) (sahih), درست (fa) (dorost)
- Piedmontese: ver
- Polish: prawdziwy (pl), istny (pl) m (sometimes)
- Portuguese: verdadeiro (pt)
- Quechua: chiqa
- Romanian: adevărat (ro)
- Russian: ве́рный (ru) (vérnyj), и́стинный (ru) (ístinnyj), правди́вый (ru) (pravdívyj)
- Sardinian: beru
- Scottish Gaelic: fìor
- Serbo-Croatian: istinit (sh), pravi (sh), istinito (sh), pravo (sh)
- Sicilian: veru (scn)
- Slovene: resničen
- Southern Ohlone: amane
- Spanish: cierto (es), verdadero (es)
- Swedish: sann (sv)
- Sylheti: ꠢꠣꠌꠣ (hasa)
- Tagalog: totoo
- Tamil: உண்மையான (uṇmaiyāṉa)
- Tetum: loos
- Thai: จริง (th) (jing)
- Tibetan: བདེན་པ (bden pa)
- Tocharian B: empreṃ, trik-
- Tok Pisin: tru
- Turkish: gerçek (tr)
- Ukrainian: ві́рний (vírnyj), і́стинний (ístynnyj), правди́вий (uk) (pravdývyj)
- Urdu: ٹھیک (ur) (ṭhīk), سچ (sac), صحیح (sahīh)
- Venetian: vero (vec)
- Vietnamese: thật (vi), phải (vi)
- Volapük: veratik (vo)
- Walloon: vraiy (wa)
- Welsh: gwir (cy)
- White Hmong: tseeb
- Yiddish: אמת (emes), אמתדיק (emesdik)
- Zazaki: raştıkên
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A state in Boolean logic that indicates an affirmative or positive result
Loyal, faithful
- Arabic: حَقٌّ (ar) (ḥaqqun)
- Aramaic:
- Hebrew: שרירא m (sharīrā, sharīro), שרירתא f (sharīrtā, sharīrto)
- Syriac: ܫܪܝܪܐ m (sharīrā, sharīro), ܫܪܝܪܬܐ f (sharīrtā, sharīrto)
- Armenian: հավատարիմ (hy) (havatarim)
- Bashkir: тоғро (toğro)
- Bulgarian: верен (bg) (veren), предан (bg) (predan)
- Catalan: vertader (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 忠誠/忠诚 (zh) (zhōngchéng), 忠貞/忠贞 (zh) (zhōngzhēn), 忠實/忠实 (zh) (zhōngshí)
- Dutch: trouw (nl)
- Finnish: tosi-
- French: vrai (fr), véritable (fr)
- German: wahr (de), treu (de), echt (de)
- Gothic: 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐍃 (triggws)
- Greek: αληθινός (el) (alithinós), πιστός (el) (pistós)
- Ancient: πιστός (pistós)
- Hebrew: נאמן (he) (ne’eman)
- Hungarian: igaz (hu)
- Japanese: 忠実な (ja) (ちゅうじつな, chūjitsu-na), 忠誠な (ja) (ちゅうせいな, chūsei-na)
- Korean: 참되다 (ko) (chamdoeda), 바르다 (ko) (bareuda)
- Latin: firmus, verus (la)
- Ngazidja Comorian: -a kweli
- Norwegian: tro (no), trofast (no)
- Old English: ġetrīewe
- Oromo: dhugaa
- Portuguese: verdadeiro (pt)
- Romanian: loial (ro) m or n, fidel (ro) m or n, sincer (ro) m or n
- Russian: ве́рный (ru) (vérnyj), пре́данный (ru) (prédannyj), лоя́льный (ru) (lojálʹnyj)
- Scottish Gaelic: dìleas
- Serbo-Croatian: veran (sh)
- Spanish: verdadero (es)
- Swedish: trogen (sv), sann (sv)
- Tamil: விசுவாசமான (ta) (vicuvācamāṉa)
- Telugu: విశ్వాస పాత్రుడు (viśvāsa pātruḍu)
- Tibetan: དྲང་པོ (drang po)
- Turkish: sadık (tr)
- Ukrainian: ві́рний (vírnyj)
- Volapük: ritöfik (vo)
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Genuine
- Arabic: حَقِيقِيّ (ḥaqīqiyy)
- Armenian: իսկական (hy) (iskakan), իրական (hy) (irakan)
- Azerbaijani: əsl (az), həqiqi (az)
- Bashkir: ысын (ısın)
- Bulgarian: истински (bg) (istinski), действителен (bg) (dejstvitelen)
- Catalan: genuí (ca), autèntic (ca), propi (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 真正 (zh) (zhēnzhèng)
- Czech: pravý (cs) m
- Dutch: echt (nl)
- Finnish: oikea (fi), aito (fi)
- French: vrai (fr), véritable (fr)
- Georgian: ნამდვილი (namdvili)
- German: echt (de), wahr (de), eigentlich (de), tatsächlich (de), effektiv (de)
- Greek: αληθινός (el) (alithinós), αυθεντικός (el) m (afthentikós)
- Hungarian: igazi (hu), valódi (hu), eredeti (hu)
- Irish: fíor
- Japanese: 本物の (ja) (ほんものの, honmono-no)
- Korean: 참되다 (ko) (chamdoeda), 바르다 (ko) (bareuda)
- Latin: verus (la)
- Latvian: īsts, īstens
- Norwegian: ekte (no), sann (no)
- Old English: sōþ
- Persian: راستین (fa) (râstin)
- Polish: prawdziwy (pl)
- Portuguese: verdadeiro (pt), autêntico (pt)
- Russian: настоя́щий (ru) (nastojáščij), по́длинный (ru) (pódlinnyj)
- Sanskrit: जेन्य (sa) (jenya)
- Scottish Gaelic: fìor
- Serbo-Croatian: iskren (sh), istinski (sh)
- Spanish: auténtico (es)
- Swedish: äkta (sv)
- Tagalog: tunay (tl)
- Telugu: నిష్కపటం (niṣkapaṭaṁ)
- Tok Pisin: tru
- Turkish: gerçek (tr)
- Vietnamese: đích thực
- Welsh: gwir (cy)
- White Hmong: tseeb
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Legitimate
- Armenian: իրական (hy) (irakan)
- Catalan: legítim (ca)
- Dutch: waar (nl)
- Finnish: todellinen (fi), aito (fi), laillinen (fi)
- Galician: verdadeiro
- German: wahr (de), legitim (de), rechtmäßig (de), wahrhaftig (de), eigentlich (de), tatsächlich (de)
- Greek: αληθινός (el) (alithinós), νόμιμος (el) m (nómimos)
- Irish: fíor
- Japanese: 正統な (ja) (せいとうな, seitō-na)
- Korean: 참되다 (ko) (chamdoeda), 바르다 (ko) (bareuda)
- Latin: legitimus (la)
- Latvian: īsts, īstens
- Norwegian: ekte (no)
- Old English: sōþ
- Portuguese: verdadeiro (pt), legítimo (pt)
- Romanian: adevărat (ro) m or n
- Russian: и́стинный (ru) (ístinnyj), настоя́щий (ru) (nastojáščij)
- Serbo-Croatian: istinito (sh), zakonito (sh)
- Swedish: sann (sv), äkta (sv)
- Telugu: హక్కుదారుడు (te) (hakkudāruḍu)
- Tibetan: ཁྲིམས་མཐུན (khrims mthun), ལུགས་མཐུན (lugs mthun), ལུགས་མཐུན་དྲང་བདེན་གྱི (lugs mthun drang bden gyi)
- Tok Pisin: tru
- Volapük: legik (vo)
- Welsh: gwir (cy)
- White Hmong: tseeb
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Translations to be checked
Adverb
true (not comparable)
- (of shooting, throwing etc) Accurately.
This gun shoots true.
2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.
- (archaic) Truthfully.
c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:I tel you true my hart is ſwolne with wrath,
On this ſame theeuish villain Tamburlain.
Translations
Noun
true (countable and uncountable, plural trues)
- (uncountable) The state of being in alignment.
1904, Lester Gray French, Machinery, volume 10:Some toolmakers are very careless when drilling the first hole through work that is to be bored, claiming that if the drilled hole comes out of true somewhat it can be brought true with the boring tool.
1988, Lois McMaster Bujold, Falling Free, Baen Publishing,, →ISBN, page 96:The crate shifted on its pallet, out of sync now. As the lift withdrew, the crate skidded with it, dragged by friction and gravity, skewing farther and farther from true.
1994, Bruce Palmer, How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson:The strength and number of blows depends on how far out of true the shafts are.
- (uncountable, obsolete) Truth.
- (countable, obsolete) A pledge or truce.
Derived terms
Translations
State of being in alignment
Verb
true (third-person singular simple present trues, present participle trueing or truing, simple past and past participle trued)
- To straighten (of something that is supposed to be straight).
He trued the spokes of the bicycle wheel.
- To make even, level, symmetrical, or accurate, align; adjust.
We spent all night truing up the report.
Usage notes
Derived terms
Translations
straighten
- Bulgarian: изправям (bg) (izpravjam), оправям (bg) (opravjam)
- Dutch: rechttrekken (nl), rechtzetten (nl)
- Finnish: suoristaa (fi)
- German: zentrieren (de), ausrichten (de), justieren (de), berichtigen (de), begradigen (de), glätten (de), ebnen (de), einebnen (de), korrigieren (de), einstellen (de), zurichten (de), richten (de)
- Greek: αληθεύει (alithévei)
- Japanese: 正しく調整する (tadashiku chōsei suru), 正確に形作る (seikaku ni katachizukuru)
- Portuguese: endireitar (pt)
- Swedish: räta (sv), rikta (sv)
- Telugu: సరిచేయు (te) (saricēyu)
- Tibetan: ཚད་མཉམ་བཟོ (tshad mnyam bzo), དྲང་པོ་བཟོ (drang po bzo)
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Anagrams
Danish
Etymology
From Old Norse þrúga, Proto-Germanic *þrūgōną, cognate with Swedish truga. The verb is related to Danish trykke and German drücken (“to press”) (= *þrukkijaną), but apparently not to German drohen (“threaten”) (= *þraujaną) or English threaten (= *þrautōną).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /truːə/, ,
Verb
true (past tense truede, past participle truet)
- to threaten
Conjugation
Further reading
Middle English
Adjective
true
- Alternative form of trewe
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Old Norse þrúga.
Verb
true (imperative tru, present tense truer, passive trues, simple past and past participle trua or truet)
- to threaten
Derived terms
Related terms
References
- “true” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old Norse þrúga.
Verb
true (present tense truar, past tense trua, past participle trua, passive infinitive truast, present participle truande, imperative true/tru)
- to threaten
Related terms
References
- “true” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.