true

 
Pronunciation: /truː/

adjective (truer, truest)

  • 1in accordance with fact or reality: a true story of course it’s true that is not true of the people I am talking about
  • [attributive] rightly or strictly so called; genuine: people are still willing to pay for true craftsmanship we believe in true love
  • [attributive] real or actual: he has guessed my true intentions
  • said when conceding a point: true, the house faced north, but you got used to that
  • 2accurate or exact: it was a true depiction
  • (of a note) exactly in tune.
  • (of a compass bearing) measured relative to true north: steer 085 degrees true
  • correctly positioned, balanced, or aligned; upright or level.
  • 3loyal or faithful: he was a true friend
  • (true to) accurately conforming to (a standard or expectation); faithful to: this entirely new production remains true to the essence of Lorca’s play
  • 4chiefly archaic honest: we appeal to all good men and true to rally to us

adverb

  • 1chiefly literary truly: Hobson spoke truer than he knew
  • 2accurately or without variation.

verb (trues, truing or trueing, trued)

[with object]
  • bring (an object, wheel, or other construction) into the exact shape or position required: the bench sander is ideal for truing up faces of timber

Phrases

come true

actually happen or become the case: dreams can come true

out of true (or the true)

not in the correct or exact shape or alignment: take care not to pull the frame out of true

many a true word is spoken in jest

proverb a humorous remark not intended to be taken seriously may turn out to be accurate after all.

true as Bob (or God)

South African informal absolutely true: true as Bob, I nearly went right through the windscreen
[Bob represents a euphemistic substitution of God, the idiom translating obsolete Afrikaans so waar as God]

true to form (or type)

being or behaving as expected: true to type, they took it well

true to life

accurately representing real events or objects: this story is true to life

Derivatives

trueness

noun

Origin:

Old English trēowe, trȳwe 'steadfast, loyal'; related to Dutch getrouw, German treu, also to truce