Pick the serious, common, formal word "axiom" to label a familiar statement about what's true.

You could talk about your favorite axioms, or about the most common axioms in your profession, or about axioms that are being repeated, accepted, embraced, relied on, reconsidered, or challenged.

Or, you could say "It's an axiom that such-and-such is true." For example: "It is an axiom in aviation that air travel correlates to GDP" (The Guardian).

The adjective, "axiomatic," is useful for describing things that are true and obvious, requiring no proof or discussion, and simple enough to express in a short statement. You might talk about axiomatic truths, reasons, statements, or conclusions, or say "It's axiomatic that such-and-such is true." Here's the New York Times: "It’s axiomatic that New York has long been indifferent to its past, knocking down physical remains with cheery abandon." And here's Time Magazine: "General Orde Wingate... made it axiomatic that troops could not be expected to operate efficiently in enemy territory longer than three months at a time."

"[The book Oceans Ventured: Winning the Cold War at Sea is] a validation of the axiom that if you want peace, prepare for war."
  — George F. Will, Washington Post, 10 August 2018

"A gifted human player could always triumph over the game's AI, because software couldn't improvise. It could either react randomly, or in a limited number of predetermined ways... This was an axiom in videogames, and would be until humans invented true artificial intelligence."
  — Ernest Cline, Ready Player One, 2011

"It is axiomatic that a government which can be maintained only by the suppression of criticism should not be maintained."
  — Walker C. Smith, The Everett Massacre: A history of the class struggle in the lumber industry, 1918

has this page helped you understand "axiom"?

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Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "axiom" without saying "statement of truth" or "universally acceptable idea."

try it out:

According to Slate, at the University of Colorado, Boulder, a business professor, Peter McGraw, has been studying comedic axioms and trying to formulate a good one of his own.

He considered these axioms:

1. "People laugh at the misfortune of others." This one goes back to Plato and Aristotle.

2. "Humor is a way for people to release psychological tension." This one's from Sigmund Freud.

3. "Humor arises when there's an inconsistency between what people expect to happen and what actually happens." Many people accept this axiom today.

And then McGraw came up with this new axiom:

4. "Humor arises when something seems wrong or threatening, but is simultaneously OK or safe."

In your opinion, which one is the most axiomatic? That is, which is the best axiom: the truest, most obviously valid one? Why?

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is Subject Line Matching!

Try matching each capitalized term below with the email subject line that I used to introduce it. For an extra challenge, try recalling what each term means and how the subject line connects to it. 

Try these today:

ARMCHAIR: _____________
HACKNEYED: _____________
HYPNOGOGIC & HYPNOPOMPIC: _____________
LAX: _____________
TENUOUS: _____________

In a world where ___, one man must ___.
my 36-hour streak of not overeating Flavor-Blasted Goldfish
not the one where you hop off the plane with your dream and your cardigan
r/confidentlyincorrect
they're woke

To see the correct answers, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. A near opposite of AXIOMATIC is

A. INFANTILE.
B. DISTRAUGHT.
C. CONTROVERSIAL.

2. According to Laura Fisher Kaiser, in epidemiology, one axiom is _____

A. a fast, cost-efficient way to determine "whether a patient has leprosy."
B. that "the closer you get to wiping out a disease… the harder it is to whack that last mole."
C. breaking through the "social and political forces" that prevent researchers from accessing key data.

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. B From the game: ARMCHAIR: r/confidentlyincorrect HACKNEYED: In a world where ___, one man must ___. HYPNOGOGIC & HYPNOPOMPIC: they're woke LAX: not the one where you hop off the plane with your dream and your cardigan TENUOUS: my 36-hour streak of not overeating Flavor-Blasted Goldfish

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.