sincere; not deceitful: a true interest in someone's welfare.
firm in allegiance; loyal; faithful; steadfast: a true friend.
being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something: the true meaning of his statement.
conforming to or consistent with a standard, pattern, or the like: a true copy.
exact; precise; accurate; correct: a true balance.
of the right kind; such as it should be; proper: to arrange things in their true order.
properly so called; rightly answering to a description: true statesmanship.
legitimate or rightful: the true heir.
reliable, unfailing, or sure: a true sign.
exactly or accurately shaped, formed, fitted, or placed, as a surface, instrument, or part of a mechanism.
honest; honorable; upright.
Biology. conforming to the type, norm, or standard of structure of a particular group; typical: The lion is a true cat.
Animal Husbandry. purebred.
Navigation. (of a bearing, course, etc.) determined in relation to true north.
Archaic. truthful.
noun
exact or accurate formation, position, or adjustment: to be out of true.
the true,something that is true; truth.
adverb
in a true manner; truly; truthfully.
exactly or accurately.
in conformity with the ancestral type: to breed true.
verb (used with object),trued,tru·ing or true·ing.
to make true; shape, adjust, place, etc., exactly or accurately: to true the wheels of a bicycle after striking a pothole.
(especially in carpentry) to make even, symmetrical, level, etc. (often followed by up): to true up the sides of a door.
Idioms for true
come true, to have the expected or hoped-for result; become a reality: She couldn't believe that her dream would ever come true.
Origin of true
before 900; Middle English trewe (adj. and adv.), Old English trēowe (adj.) loyal, trusty, honest (see trow, truce); akin to Dutch trouw,German treu,Old Norse tryggr,Gothic triggws
What happened to true love knows no boundaries and all that?
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At 1:42 a.m., a commenter bluntly asked: “Jeff, Is it true you are a convicted sex offender?”
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True, this may not be what James Madison had in mind when he was writing the Bill of Rights.
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One question was why Lynch did not think this was also true of cops who turned their backs earlier on Sunday.
Funeral Protest Is Too Much for NYPD Union Boss|Michael Daly|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Like his old man, he keeps it reined in, but when talking about fishing, a true regret seeps out.
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The fear of its loss can alone teach us the true value of our treasure.
Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia|William Gilmore Simms
She saw in them, it is true, a reflex of her own power—and that pleased, but it did not move her.
Mary Marston|George MacDonald
It was true in the assembly of Israel of old, and assuredly it is not less true in the Church of God now.
Life and Times of David|Charles Henry Mackintosh
This little fiction is to amuse the credulous, and would be 'important if true.'
Overland through Asia; Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tartar Life|Thomas Wallace Knox
The statement may be true; but instead of a cave there is only a tunnel a few rods in length.
Archeological Investigations|Gerard Fowke
British Dictionary definitions for true
true
/ (truː) /
adjectivetruerortruest
not false, fictional, or illusory; factual or factually accurate; conforming with reality
(prenominal)being of real or natural origin; genuine; not synthetictrue leather
unswervingly faithful and loyal to friends, a cause, etca true follower
(as collective noun; preceded by the)the loyal and the true
faithful to a particular concept of truth, esp of religious trutha true believer
conforming to a required standard, law, or patterna true aim; a true fit
exactly in tunea true note
(of a compass bearing) according to the earth's geographical rather than magnetic polestrue north
biologyconforming to the typical structure of a designated typesphagnum moss is a true moss, Spanish moss is not
physicsnot apparent or relative; taking into account all complicating factorsthe true expansion of a liquid takes into account the expansion of the container Compare apparent (def. 3)
not trueinformalunbelievable; remarkableshe's got so much money it's not true
true to lifeexactly comparable with reality
noun
correct alignment (esp in the phrases in true, out of true)
adverb
truthfully; rightly
precisely or unswervinglyhe shot true
biologywithout variation from the ancestral typeto breed true
verbtrues, truingortrued
(tr)to adjust so as to make true
Derived forms of true
trueness, noun
Word Origin for true
Old English triewe; related to Old Frisian triūwe, Old Saxon, Old High German triuwi loyal, Old Norse tryggr; see trow, trust