Truth \Truth\, n.; pl. Truths. [OE. treuthe, trouthe, treowpe,
AS. tre['o]w?. See True; cf. Troth, Betroth.]
1. The quality or being true; as:
(a) Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with
that which is, or has been; or shall be.
(b) Conformity to rule; exactness; close correspondence
with an example, mood, object of imitation, or the
like.
Plows, to go true, depend much on the truth of
the ironwork. --Mortimer.
(c) Fidelity; constancy; steadfastness; faithfulness.
Alas! they had been friends in youth, But
whispering tongues can poison truth.
--Coleridge.
(d) The practice of speaking what is true; freedom from
falsehood; veracity.
If this will not suffice, it must appear That
malice bears down truth. --Shak.
2. That which is true or certain concerning any matter or
subject, or generally on all subjects; real state of
things; fact; verity; reality.
Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor.
--Zech. viii.
16.
I long to know the truth here of at large. --Shak.
The truth depends on, or is only arrived at by, a
legitimate deduction from all the facts which are
truly material. --Coleridge.
3. A true thing; a verified fact; a true statement or
proposition; an established principle, fixed law, or the
like; as, the great truths of morals.
Even so our boasting . . . is found a truth. --2
Cor. vii. 14.
4. Righteousness; true religion.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. --John i. 17.
Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.
--John xvii.
17.
In truth, in reality; in fact.
Of a truth, in reality; certainly.
To do truth, to practice what God commands.
He that doeth truth cometh to the light. --John iii.
21.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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