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plat⋅i⋅tude

[plat-i-tood, -tyood]

–noun

1.	a flat, dull, or trite remark, esp. one uttered as if it were fresh or profound.

2.	the quality or state of being flat, dull, or trite: the platitude of most political oratory.

Origin:
1805–15; < F: lit., flatness, equiv. to plat flat (see plate ¹ ) + -itude, as in F latitude, altitude, magnitude, etc.

Synonyms:
1. cliché, truism.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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plat·i·tude (plāt'ĭ-tōōd', -tyōōd')

A trite or banal remark or statement, especially one expressed as if it were original or significant. See Synonyms at cliché.
Lack of originality; triteness.

[French, from plat, flat, from Old French; see plate.]
plat'i·tu'di·nous (-tōōd'n-əs, -tyōōd'-), plat'i·tu'di·nal (-tōōd'n-əl, -tyōōd'-) adj., plat'i·tu'di·nous·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Platitude

Plat"i*tude\, n. [F., from plat flat. See Plate.]

1. The quality or state of being flat, thin, or insipid; flat commonness; triteness; staleness of ideas of language.

To hammer one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude. --Motley.

2. A thought or remark which is flat, dull, trite, or weak; a truism; a commonplace.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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platitude

1812, "dullness," from Fr. platitude "flatness, vapidness" (1694), from O.Fr. plat "flat" (see plate); formed on analogy of latitude, attitude, etc. Meaning "a flat, dull, or commonplace remark" is recorded from 1815.

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