true

/tɹuː/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

archaic/tɹjuː/

true adjective: conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.

Adjective (1)

true (comparative truer or more true, superlative truest or most true)

Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.
- This is a true story.
- 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...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
Synonyms:

factual, real

Antonyms:

false, untrue, bastard, counterfactual, erroneous, fallacious, off, counterfeit, fictitious, inaccurate
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.
  - The “Bulletin” “denies that we have been celebrating the birth of the Australian Commonwealth. Our so-called national celebrations have been prostituted to a Jingo military carnival, glorificatory of one of the most venal and ignoble wars of the dead century.” True, but the “Bulletin” shouldn’t...1901 February 2, “Plain Words”, in The People: Official Organ of the Australian Socialist League, volume V, number 211, Sydney, N.S.W., →OCLC, page [3], column 2
Conforming to a rule or pattern; exact; accurate.
- a true copy
- a true likeness of the original
Synonyms:

legitimate, precise, valid, acceptable, allowable, legit, leveful, licit, permissible, rightful
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.
Loyal, faithful.
- He’s turned out to be a true friend.
- I really let you down / Next time I'll be true, yeah1988, Womack & Womack, “Teardrops”
Genuine; legitimate; valid; sensu stricto.
- The true king has returned!
- This is true Parmesan cheese — it is from the Parma region.
Synonyms:

bona fide, real, actual, authentic, genuine, legit, legitimate, lubish, non-fake, pukka
1. 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
(usually, shooting) Accurate; following a path toward the target.
- Whate'er the weapon, still his aim was true, Nor e'er in vain the fatal bullet flew.1801, Mrs. Cowley, “The siege of Acre”, in The British Critic, volumes 17-18, page 521
- I held my breath and struck the ball. My aim was true, but I didn't give the damn thing enough gas. It died three feet from the cup.2008, Carl Hiaasen, The downhill lie: a hacker's return to a ruinous sport, page 188
Correctly aligned or calibrated, without deviation.
- Is my bike wheel true? It feels unsteady.
- Brakes need good braking surfaces and true wheels to work properly.2013, Guy Andrews, Complete Road Bike Maintenance, first edition, London: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 139
Fair, unbiased, not loaded.
- Let Z#95;t be twice the value of a true die shown on the t-th toss.1990, William W. S. Wei, Time Series Analysis, →ISBN, page 8
- In fact, few profit margins can be predicted with such reliability as those provided by a true roulette wheel or other game of chance.2006, Judith A. Baer, Leslie Friedman Goldstein, The Constitutional and Legal Rights of Women: Cases in Law and Social Change, →ISBN
based on actual historical events.
- true crime
- true romance

Adverb

true (not comparable)

(throwing etc) Accurately; in alignment.
- This gun shoots true.
- If the tyre doesn't run true (it wobbles as you spin the wheel), re-seat it by letting most of the air out and pulling the tyre away from the bead.2013, Guy Andrews, Complete Road Bike Maintenance, first edition, London: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 81
(archaic) Truthfully.
- I tel you true my hart is ſwolne with wrath,
  On this ſame theeuish villain Tamburlain.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- What am I to you? Tell me, darling, true.2004, Norah Jones, “What Am I to You?”, in Feels like Home

Noun (1)

true (uncountable)

The state of being in alignment.
- 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.1904, Lester Gray French, Machinery, volume 10
- 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.1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “(please specify the page)”, in Tales of the Jazz Age, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC
(obsolete) Truth.

Verb

true (third-person singular simple present trues, present participle trueing or truing, simple past and past participle trued)

To straighten (something that is supposed to be straight).
- He trued the spokes of the bicycle wheel.
- Don't attempt to true a wheel until you've a good idea what is causing the buckle.2013, Guy Andrews, Complete Road Bike Maintenance, first edition, London: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 54
To make even, level, symmetrical, or accurate, align; adjust (often followed by up).
- We spent all night truing up the report.

Noun (2)

true (plural trues)

(obsolete) A pledge or truce.

Proper noun capitalized: True

True (countable and uncountable, plural Trues)

A surname.
An unincorporated community in Summers County, West Virginia, United States.
A town in Rusk County, Wisconsin, United States.
A townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

Adjective (2) capitalized: TRUE

TRUE (not comparable)

one of two states of a Boolean variable; logic 1.

true meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

true in Hindi

concurring with a given set of facts: ठीक ṭhīk, सच sac, सही sahī

true in Tamil

concurring with a given set of facts: உண்மையான uṇmaiyāṉa
loyal, faithful: விசுவாசமான vicuvācamāṉa

true in Marathi

true: खरे khare
true; blameless; acquitted: शुद्ध śuddha

true in Urdu

concurring with a given set of facts: ٹھیک ṭhīk, سچ sac, صحیح sahīh

More languagesFewer languages

true in Bengali: সাঁচা śãca, হাচা hasa, সত্য śotto, প্রকৃত prokrito
true in Telugu: నిష్కపటం niṣkapaṭaṁ, హక్కుదారుడు hakkudāruḍu, విశ్వాస పాత్రుడు viśvāsa pātruḍu, సరిచేయు saricēyu
true in Malayalam: ശരി śari, യഥാർത്ഥ yathāṟttha, ഉള്ള uḷḷa
true in Kannada: ಸತ್ಯ satya
true in Punjabi: ست satt, ਸੱਚ sacca, ਸੱਚਾ saccā, ਦਰੁਸਤ darusat
true in Gujarati: સાચું sācũ, ખરું kharũ
true in Odia: ଠିକ ṭhika
true in Sanskrit: जेन्य jenya
true in Assamese: আচল asol, সঁচা xõsa
true in Nepali: साँचो sā̃co
true in Tagalog: totoo, tunay
true in Arabic: حَقّ ḥaqq, صَحِيح ṣaḥīḥ, صَادِق ṣādiq, حَقِيقِيّ ḥaqīqiyy
true in Malay: benar
true in Indonesian: benar
true in Persian: صحیح sahih, درست dorost, راستین râstin
true in Thai: จริง jing
true in Vietnamese: thật, phải, đích thực
true in Myanmar: ဟုတ် hut

Examples of true in a sentence

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.
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.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249:
And, when it comes to GymTok, that couldn't be truer.2022 January 14, Jade Biggs, “This TikTok of a woman squatting in the gym is dividing people”, in Cosmopolitan, New York, N.Y.: Hearst...
[…]making his eye, foot, and hand keep true time[…]1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XI, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable...

All 40 example sentences with true

Synonyms of true

17 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

10 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of true

Forms of true

Adjective
comparative	truer
comparative	more true
superlative	truest
superlative	most true
alternative Internet	tru
alternative Internet Leet	tr00
alternative form (nonstandard)	troo
alternative form (obsolete)	trew
Verb
third-person singular present	trues
present participle	trueing
present participle	truing
past participle	trued
past	trued
Noun
plural	trues
Proper noun
plural	Trues

Origin of true

From Middle English treowe, trew, trewe, triwe, true, trwe, from Old English trēowe, trīewe (“faithful, true”), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiz (“faithful, true”), from pre-Germanic *drewh₂yos, from Proto-Indo-European *drewH- (“firm, hard, true”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian trjou (“honest”), Alemannic German trüüw (“loyal”), Dutch trouw (“loyal, true”), German treu (“loyal, true”), Luxembourgish trei (“loyal”), Danish tryg (“safe, secure”), Faroese and Icelandic tryggur (“faithful, loyal; safe”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish trygg (“safe, secure”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐍃 (triggws, “true; faithful, loyal”); also Irish dearbh (“sure”), Old Prussian druwis (“faith”), Ancient Greek δροόν (droón, “firm”)), extension of *dóru (“tree”) (possibly also Proto-Slavic *sъdorvъ (“healthy”) from the same root). More at tree. For the semantic development, compare Latin robustus (“tough”) from robur (“red oak”).

Variant of truce.

Words formed from true

all rumors are true
big if true
breed true
come true
dream come true
dream true
for real and for true
hold true
huge if true
nontrue
no true Scotsman fallacy
one true brace style
overtrue
retrue
ring true
semitrue
show one's true colors
colours
stripes
supertrue
the course of true love never did run smooth
three true outcomes
throw true
too good to be true
to thine own self be true
tralse
tried and true
trill
troth
true airspeed
true anomaly
true as a die
true as I stand here
…I'm standing here
true bandicoot
true bearing
true believer → true-believer
t. b. syndrome
Truebie
true bill
true blue
true-blue
true-born
trueborn
true-bred
true bug
truecel
true civet
true cobra
true color
t. colors
true copy
true crab
true crime
True Cross
true daikon
true dat
true deer
true density
true ending

Phrases with true

111 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with true

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about true

What does true mean?: True means conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.
What is true in Hindi?: True in Hindi is ठीक (ṭhīk), सच (sac), सही (sahī). See True meaning in Hindi.
How do you use true in a sentence?: true blusher (Amanita rubescens, as distinguished from the false blusher, Amanita pantherina)
What part of speech is true?: True can be an adjective, an adverb, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce true?: True is pronounced /tɹuː/.

Words near true in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-true.ogg, en-us-true.ogg.

Cite this entry: “true.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/true. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.