true.
Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.
Meaning & usage
Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.
This is a true story.
Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct. 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.
Conforming to a rule or pattern; exact; accurate.
a true copy
a true likeness of the original
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.
Genuine; legitimate; valid; sensu stricto.
The true king has returned!
This is true Parmesan cheese — it is from the Parma region.
Genuine; legitimate; valid; sensu stricto. 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
Accurate; following a path toward the target.
Correctly aligned or calibrated, without deviation.
Is my bike wheel true? It feels unsteady.
Fair, unbiased, not loaded.
based on actual historical events.
true crime
true romance
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *drewH-der. Proto-Germanic *triwwiz Proto-West Germanic *triuwī Old English trīewe Middle English trewe English 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”).
Accurately; in alignment.
This gun shoots true.
Truthfully.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *drewH-der. Proto-Germanic *triwwiz Proto-West Germanic *triuwī Old English trīewe Middle English trewe English 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”).
The state of being in alignment.
Truth.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *drewH-der. Proto-Germanic *triwwiz Proto-West Germanic *triuwī Old English trīewe Middle English trewe English 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”).
To straighten (something that is supposed to be straight).
He trued the spokes of the bicycle wheel.
To make even, level, symmetrical, or accurate, align; adjust (often followed by up).
We spent all night truing up the report.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *drewH-der. Proto-Germanic *triwwiz Proto-West Germanic *triuwī Old English trīewe Middle English trewe English 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”).
A pledge or truce.
Where this word comes from
Variant of truce.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.