gnomic

Adjective

gnomic (comparative more gnomic, superlative most gnomic)

1. Of, or relating to gnomes (sententious sayings).
   • His birth-place was Colophon, an Ionian city of Asia-Minor; a city long famous as the seat of elegiac and gnomic poetry, and ranking the poet Minmermus amongst its celebrated men.1845, G.H. Lewes, A Biographical History of Philosophy, volume I, London: Charles Knight and Co., page 72
   • Old English culture was threaded through with riddles, cryptograms, gnomic verses, charms and riddling modes of speech such as litotes, just as Modern English culture is (if you will forgive me) riddled with jokes and catch-phrases, crosswords and quizzes, irony and sarcasm.2013, Adam Roberts, The Riddles of The Hobbit, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 17
2. Mysterious and often incomprehensible yet seemingly wise.
   • He always makes gnomic utterances.
   • The gnomic belief that the world is conditioned by love is no idle apothegm.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page i
3. Expressing general truths or aphorisms.
   • gnomic aspect