true

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See also:TRUE

English

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EnglishWikipediahas an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishtrewe,fromOld Englishtrīewe,(Mercian)trēowe(“trusty, faithful”),fromProto-Germanic*triwwiz(compareSaterland Frisiantrjou(“honest”),Dutchgetrouwandtrouw,Germantreu,NorwegianandSwedishtrygg(“safe, secure’”),from pre-Germanic *drewh₂yos,fromProto-Indo-European*drewh₂-(“steady, firm”)(compareIrishdearbh(“sure”),Old Prussiandruwis(“faith”),Ancient Greekδροόν(droón,“firm”)), extension of*dóru(“tree”)(possibly alsoProto-Slavic*sъdorvъ(“healthy”)from the same root). More attree.For the semantic development, compareLatinrobustus(“tough”)fromrobur(“red oak”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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true(comparativetruerormoretrue,superlativetruestormosttrue)

  1. (of a statement)Conformingto the actual state ofrealityorfact;factuallycorrect.
    This is atruestory.
    • 1897December (indicated as1898),Winston Churchill,chapter VIII, inThe Celebrity: An Episode,New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company;London:Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,→OCLC,page110:
      Thehumor 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 itstrueproportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.
    • 1963,Margery Allingham,“Eye Witness”, inThe China Governess: A Mystery,London:Chatto & Windus,→OCLC,page249:
      The story struck the depressingly familiar note with whichtruestories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.
    • 2013July 20, “Old soldiers?”,inThe Economist,volume408,number8845:
      Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.[…]One thing that istrue,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.
    2. 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.
  2. Conforming to a rule or pattern; exact; accurate.
    atruecopy; atruelikeness of the original
  3. (logic)Of the state in Booleanlogicthat indicates anaffirmativeor positive result.
    "A and B" istrueif and only if "A" istrueand "B" istrue.
  4. Loyal,faithful.
    He’s turned out to be atruefriend.
  6. Genuine;legitimate;valid;sensu stricto.
    Thetrueking has returned!
    This istrueParmesan cheese — it is from the Parma region.
    • 1568,William Cornysh,“In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe[...]”,inJohn Skelton,edited byJ[ohn] S[tow],Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate,Imprinted at London: InFletestreate,neare vntoSaint Dunstones Churcheby Thomas Marshe,→OCLC;republished asPithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry the VIIIth,London: Printed for C. Davis inPater-noster Row,1736,→OCLC,page290:
      The Harpe.[…]A harper with hiswreſtmaye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunyng of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt atrueſonge
    • 2012January,Henry Petroski,“The Washington Monument”,inAmerican Scientist,volume100,number 1, page16:
      The Washington Monument is often described as an obelisk, and sometimes even as a “trueobelisk,” even though it is not. Atrueobelisk is a monolith, a pylon formed out of a single piece of stone.
    1. (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 calledfalse.
      truesparrows(Passer)
      truespiders
      trueblusher(Amanita rubescens,as distinguished from thefalse blusher,Amanita pantherina)
      Thetruebugs are those of the order Hemiptera; and, by some lights, most truly those of the suborder Heteroptera.
  7. (of anaimormissileinarchery,shooting,golf,etc.)Accurate;following a path toward thetarget.
    • 1801,Mrs. Cowley, “The siege of Acre”, inThe British Critic,volumes17-18,page521:
      Whate'er the weapon, still his aim wastrue,Nor e'er in vain the fatal bullet flew.
    • 2008,Carl Hiaasen,The downhill lie: a hacker's return to a ruinous sport,page188:
      I held my breath and struck the ball. My aim wastrue,but I didn't give the damn thing enough gas. It died three feet from the cup.
  8. (of amechanicalpart)Correctlyalignedorcalibrated,withoutdeviation.
    Is my bike wheeltrue?It feels unsteady.
  9. (chiefly probability)Fair,unbiased,notloaded.
    • 1990,William W. S. Wei,Time Series Analysis,→ISBN,page 8:
      Letbe twice the value of atruedie 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 atrueroulette 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 atruecoin.
  10. (of aliterarygenre)based onactualhistoricalevents.
    truecrime
    trueromance
    • 1965,James Holledge,What Makes a Call Girl?,London: Horwitz Publications, page69:
      [A] skinny blonde of about twenty sitting in an armchair by an electric fire reading atrue romancemagazine.

Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Terms derived fromtrue(adjective)
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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb

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true(notcomparable)

  1. (of shooting, throwing etc)Accurately.
    This gun shootstrue.
    • 2013May-June,David Van Tassel,Lee DeHaan,“Wild Plants to the Rescue”,inAmerican Scientist,volume101,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 breedtrue.In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.
  2. (archaic)Truthfully.

Translations

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Noun

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true(countableanduncountable,pluraltrues)

  1. (uncountable)The state of being inalignment.
    • 1904,Lester Gray French,Machinery,volume10:
      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 oftruesomewhat it can be brought true with the boring tool.
    • 1922,F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald,“(please specify the page)”,inTales of the Jazz Age,New York, N.Y.:Charles Scribner’s Sons,→OCLC:
      She clapped her hands happily, and he thought how pretty she was really, that is, the upper part of her face—from the bridge of the nose down she was somewhat out oftrue.
    • 1988,Lois McMaster Bujold,Falling Free,Baen Publishing,,→ISBN,page96:
      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 fromtrue.
    • 1994,Bruce Palmer,How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson:
      The strength and number of blows depends on how far out oftruethe shafts are.
  2. (uncountable,obsolete)Truth.
  3. (countable,obsolete)Apledgeortruce.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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true(third-person singular simple presenttrues,present participletrueingortruing,simple past and past participletrued)

  1. Tostraighten(of something that is supposed to be straight).
    Hetruedthe spokes of the bicycle wheel.
  2. To make even, level, symmetrical, or accurate,align;adjust.
    We spent all nighttruingup the report.

Usage notes

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  • Often followed byup.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Danish

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Etymology

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FromOld Norseþrúga,Proto-Germanic*þrūgōną,cognate withSwedishtruga.The verb is related toDanishtrykkeandGermandrücken(“to press”)(=*þrukkijaną), but apparently not toGermandrohen(“threaten”)(=*þraujaną) orEnglishthreaten(=*þrautōną).

Pronunciation

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IPA(key):/truːə/,[ˈtˢʁ̥uːu],[ˈtˢʁ̥oːo]

Verb

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true(past tensetruede,past participletruet)

  1. tothreaten

Conjugation

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Inflection oftrue
present past
simple truer truede
perfect hartruet havdetruet
passive trues truedes
participle truende truet
imperative tru —
infinitive true —
auxiliary verb have —
gerund truen —

Further reading

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Middle English

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Adjective

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true

  1. Alternative form oftrewe

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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FromOld Norseþrúga.

Verb

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true(imperativetru,present tensetruer,passivetrues,simple past and past participletruaortruet)

  1. tothreaten

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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FromOld Norseþrúga.

Verb

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true(present tensetruar,past tensetrua,past participletrua,passive infinitivetruast,present participletruande,imperativetrue/tru)

  1. tothreaten
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References

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