4. (Music, other) music a part of the action of a clavichord consisting of a small piece of metal that strikes the string to produce a note. 5. on a tangent at a tangent on a completely different or divergent course, esp of thought: to go off at a tangent.
Synonyms: clichÃ©, bromide, platitude, truism. These nouns denote an expression or idea that has lost its originality or force through overuse: a short story weakened by clichÃ©s; the bromide that we are what we eat; a eulogy full of platitudes; a once-original thought that is now a truism.
SYNONYMY NOTE: a platitude is a trite remark or idea, esp. one uttered as if it were novel or momentous; a , commonplace is any obvious or conventional remark or idea; a , truism is a statement whose truth is widely known and whose utterance, therefore, seems superfluous; a , clichÃ© is an expression or idea which, though once fresh and forceful, has ...