Alternative forms

• trew, trewe (obsolete)
• troo (nonstandard)
• tr00 (leetspeak)

Pronunciation

• enPR: tro͞o, IPA^(key): /tɹuː/, [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷu̠ː]Category:English 1-syllable words#TRUECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TRUE

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#TRUE

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#TRUE
• (archaic) IPA^(key): /tɹjuː/Category:English 1-syllable words#TRUECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TRUE
• (now dialectal) IPA^(key): /tɹɪʊ̯/Category:English 1-syllable words#TRUECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TRUE
• Rhymes: -uːCategory:Rhymes:English/uː#TRUECategory:Rhymes:English/uː/1 syllable#TRUE

Adjective

true (comparative truer or more true, superlative truest or most true)Category:English lemmas#TRUECategory:English adjectives#TRUECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TRUECategory:Pages with entries#TRUECategory:Pages with 5 entries#TRUE

1. (of a statement) Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.

   Synonyms: factual, real

   Antonyms: false, untrue; see also Thesaurus:untrue

   This is a true story.Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

   • 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:

     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 to behold.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249:

     The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

   • 2009, Paul Cartledge, Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities:

     At any rate, this does tend to put in truer perspective the symbolic claim placed by Herodotus in the mouth of 'the Athenians'—also Ionians—in 480/479, that the fact of being Greek was constituted in essential part by 'same-bloodedness'.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. […] One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

   • 2022 January 14, Jade Biggs, “This TikTok of a woman squatting in the gym is dividing people”, in Cosmopolitan‎, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 4 August 2023:

     As the is it gold is it blue? dress moment proved all too well, dividing opinion on social media is really not that hard. And, when it comes to GymTok, that couldn't be truer.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

   2. 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.

      Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

2. Conforming to a rule or pattern; exact; accurate.

   Synonyms: legitimate, precise, valid; see also Thesaurus:valid

   a true copyCategory:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

   a true likeness of the originalCategory:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XI, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 229:

     […] making his eye, foot, and hand keep true time […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

3. (logicCategory:en:Logic#TRUE) 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.Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

4. Loyal, faithful.

   He’s turned out to be a true friend.Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

   • 1988, Womack & Womack, “Teardrops”:

     I really let you down / Next time I'll be true, yeah

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

6. Genuine; legitimate; valid; sensu stricto.

   Synonyms: bona fide, real; see also Thesaurus:genuine

   The true king has returned!

   Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

   This is true Parmesan cheese — it is from the Parma region.

   Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

   • 1568, William Cornysh, “In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe [...]”, in John Skelton, edited by J[ohn] S[tow], Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate, Imprinted at London: In Fletestreate, neare vnto Saint Dunstones Churche by Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished as Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry the VIIIth, London: Printed for C. Davis in Pater-noster Row, 1736, →OCLC, page 290:

     The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunyng of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge

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   • 2012 January, Henry Petroski, “The Washington Monument”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 16:

     The Washington Monument is often described as an obelisk, and sometimes even as a “true obelisk,” even though it is not. A true obelisk is a monolith, a pylon formed out of a single piece of stone.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

   1. (biologyCategory:en:Biology#TRUE) 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)

      Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

      true spiders

      Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

      true blusher (Amanita rubescensCategory:Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)#Amanita%20rubescens, as distinguished from the false blusher, Amanita pantherina)

      Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

      The true bugs are those of the order Hemiptera; and, by some lights, most truly those of the suborder Heteroptera.

      Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

7. (of an aim or missile in archery, shooting, golf, etc.) Accurate; following a path toward the target.
   • 1801, Mrs. Cowley, “The siege of Acre”, in The British Critic, volumes 17-18, page 521:

     Whate'er the weapon, still his aim was true, Nor e'er in vain the fatal bullet flew.

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   • 2008, Carl Hiaasen, The downhill lie: a hacker's return to a ruinous sport, page 188:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

8. (of a mechanical part) Correctly aligned or calibrated, without deviation.

   Is my bike wheel true? It feels unsteady.Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

   • 2013, Guy Andrews, Complete Road Bike Maintenance, first edition, London: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 139:

     Brakes need good braking surfaces and true wheels to work properly.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

9. (chiefly probability) Fair, unbiased, not loaded.
   • 1990, William W. S. Wei, Time Series Analysis, →ISBN, page 8:

     Let ${\displaystyle Z_{t}}$ be twice the value of a true die shown on the ${\displaystyle t}$-th toss.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

   • 2006, Judith A. Baer, Leslie Friedman Goldstein, The Constitutional and Legal Rights of Women: Cases in Law and Social Change, →ISBN:

     In fact, few profit margins can be predicted with such reliability as those provided by a true roulette wheel or other game of chance.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

   • 2007 January 21, Jeff Z. Klein, Karl-Eric Reif, “In the N.H.L., East Is East and West Is West”, in The New York Times‎:

     Finally, the truest measure of quality: In interconference games, Western teams have a 57-38 record against the East, including overtime and penalty shootout results — a winning percentage of .600.

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   • 2012, Peter Sprent, Applied Nonparametric Statistical Methods, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 5:

     We do not reject, because 9 heads and 3 tails is in a set of reasonably likely results when we toss a true coin.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

10. (of a literary genre) based on actual historical events.

    true crimeCategory:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

    true romanceCategory:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

    • 1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 69:

      [A] skinny blonde of about twenty sitting in an armchair by an electric fire reading a true romance magazine.

      Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

Adverb

true (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#TRUECategory:English adverbs#TRUECategory:English uncomparable adverbs#TRUECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TRUECategory:Pages with entries#TRUECategory:Pages with 5 entries#TRUE

1. (of shooting, throwing etc) Accurately; in alignment.

   This gun shoots true.Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

   • 2013, Guy Andrews, Complete Road Bike Maintenance, first edition, London: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 81:

     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.

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   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

2. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#TRUE) Truthfully.
   • 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; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:

     I tel you true my hart is ſwolne with wrath,
     On this ſame theeuish villain Tamburlain.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

Noun

true (uncountable)Category:English lemmas#TRUECategory:English nouns#TRUECategory:English uncountable nouns#TRUECategory:English uncountable nouns#TRUECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TRUECategory:Pages with entries#TRUECategory:Pages with 5 entries#TRUE

1. The state of being in alignment.
   • 1904, Lester Gray French, Machinery, volume 10:

     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.

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   • 1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “(please specify the page)”, in Tales of the Jazz Age, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:

     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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

   • 1988, Lois McMaster Bujold, Falling Free, Baen Publishing,, →ISBN, page 96:

     The crate shifted on its pallet, out of sync now. As the lift withdrew, the crate skidded with it, dragged by friction and gravity, skewing farther and farther from true.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

   • 1994, Bruce Palmer, How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson:

     The strength and number of blows depends on how far out of true the shafts are.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

2. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#TRUE) Truth.

Verb

true (third-person singular simple present trues, present participle trueing or truing, simple past and past participle trued)Category:English lemmas#TRUECategory:English verbs#TRUECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TRUECategory:Pages with entries#TRUECategory:Pages with 5 entries#TRUE

1. To straighten (something that is supposed to be straight).

   He trued the spokes of the bicycle wheel.Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

   • 2013, Guy Andrews, Complete Road Bike Maintenance, first edition, London: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 54:

     Don't attempt to true a wheel until you've a good idea what is causing the buckle.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TRUE

2. To make even, level, symmetrical, or accurate, align; adjust (often followed by up).

   We spent all night truing up the report.Category:English terms with usage examples#TRUE

Noun

true (plural trues)Category:English lemmas#TRUECategory:English nouns#TRUECategory:English countable nouns#TRUECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TRUECategory:Pages with entries#TRUECategory:Pages with 5 entries#TRUE

1. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#TRUE) A pledge or truce.

Conjugation

Derived terms

See also

• intimidere
• risikere

Derived terms

• truende
• utrydningstruet

Related terms

• trussel

Related terms

• trussel