English
true
see also: TRUE, True
Etymology

From Middle English trewe, from Old English trīewe, (Mercian) trēowe ("trusty, faithful"), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiz (compare Saterland Frisian trjou, Dutch getrouw and trouw, German treu, Norwegian - and Swedish trygg, from pre-Germanic *drewh₂yos, from Proto-Indo-European *drewh₂- (compare Irish dearbh, Prussian druwis, Ancient Greek δροόν), extension of *dóru ("tree") (possibly also sla-pro *sъdorvъ from the same root).

Pronunciation
  • enPR: trōō, IPA: /tɹuː/, [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷu̠ː]
  • (archaic) IPA: /tɹjuː/
  • (now dialectal) IPA: /tɹɪʊ̯/
Adjective

true (comparative truer, superlative truest)

  1. (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.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗, page 249 ↗:
      The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories 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.
    1. 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.
    a true copy;   a true likeness of the original
    • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 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 […]
  3. (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.
  4. Loyal, faithful.
    He’s turned out to be a true friend.
  5. Genuine; legitimate; valid; sensu stricto.
    The true king has returned!
    This is true Parmesan cheese — it is from the Parma region.
    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 called false.
      true sparrows (Passer)
      true spiders
      true blusher (Amanita rubescens, as distinguished from the false blusher, Amanita pantherina)
      The true bugs are those of the order Hemiptera; and, by some lights, most truly those of the suborder Heteroptera.
  6. (of an, aim or missile in archery, shooting, golf etc.) Accurate; following a path toward the target.
  7. (of a mechanical part) Correctly aligned or calibrated, without deviation.
    Is my bike wheel true? It feels unsteady.
  8. (chiefly, probability) Fair, unbiased, not loaded.
  9. (of a literary genre) based on actual historical events.
    true crimetrue romance
Antonyms Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Adverb

true (not comparable)

  1. (of shooting, throwing etc) Accurately.
    This gun shoots true.
  2. (archaic) Truthfully.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] 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

  1. (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.
    • 1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “(please specify the page)”, in Tales 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 of true.
  2. (uncountable, obsolete) Truth.
  3. (countable, obsolete) A pledge or truce.
Translations Verb

true (trues, present participle trueing; simple past and past participle trued)

  1. To straighten (of something that is supposed to be straight).
    He trued the spokes of the bicycle wheel.
  2. To make even, level, symmetrical, or accurate, align; adjust.
    We spent all night truing up the report.
Translations
TRUE
Adjective

true (not comparable)

  1. (electronics) one of two states of a Boolean variable; logic 1.
True
Proper noun
  1. Surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Summers County, West Virginia.
  3. A town in Rusk County, Wisconsin.
  4. A townland in Tyrone, Northern Ireland.


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