Meaning of "proverb" in the English dictionary

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD PROVERB

Via Old French from Latin prōverbium, from verbum word.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF PROVERB

proverb  [ˈprɒvɜːb]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF PROVERB

Proverb is a verb and can also act as a noun.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb proverb in English.

WHAT DOES PROVERB MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Proverb

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. Both the Bible and medieval Latin have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs across Europe. Mieder has concluded that cultures that treat the Bible as their "major spiritual book contain between three hundred and five hundred proverbs that stem from the Bible." However, almost every culture has examples of its own unique proverbs.

Definition of proverb in the English dictionary

The first definition of proverb in the dictionary is a short, memorable, and often highly condensed saying embodying, esp with bold imagery, some commonplace fact or experience. Other definition of proverb is a person or thing exemplary in respect of a characteristic. Proverb is also a wise saying or admonition providing guidance.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO PROVERB

PRESENT

Present

I proverb

you proverb

he/she/it proverbs

we proverb

you proverb

they proverb

Present continuous

I am proverbing

you are proverbing

he/she/it is proverbing

we are proverbing

you are proverbing

they are proverbing

Present perfect

I have proverbed

you have proverbed

he/she/it has proverbed

we have proverbed

you have proverbed

they have proverbed

Present perfect continuous

I have been proverbing

you have been proverbing

he/she/it has been proverbing

we have been proverbing

you have been proverbing

they have been proverbing

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I proverbed

you proverbed

he/she/it proverbed

we proverbed

you proverbed

they proverbed

Past continuous

I was proverbing

you were proverbing

he/she/it was proverbing

we were proverbing

you were proverbing

they were proverbing

Past perfect

I had proverbed

you had proverbed

he/she/it had proverbed

we had proverbed

you had proverbed

they had proverbed

Past perfect continuous

I had been proverbing

you had been proverbing

he/she/it had been proverbing

we had been proverbing

you had been proverbing

they had been proverbing

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will proverb

you will proverb

he/she/it will proverb

we will proverb

you will proverb

they will proverb

Future continuous

I will be proverbing

you will be proverbing

he/she/it will be proverbing

we will be proverbing

you will be proverbing

they will be proverbing

Future perfect

I will have proverbed

you will have proverbed

he/she/it will have proverbed

we will have proverbed

you will have proverbed

they will have proverbed

Future perfect continuous

I will have been proverbing

you will have been proverbing

he/she/it will have been proverbing

we will have been proverbing

you will have been proverbing

they will have been proverbing

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would proverb

you would proverb

he/she/it would proverb

we would proverb

you would proverb

they would proverb

Conditional continuous

I would be proverbing

you would be proverbing

he/she/it would be proverbing

we would be proverbing

you would be proverbing

they would be proverbing

Conditional perfect

I would have proverb

you would have proverb

he/she/it would have proverb

we would have proverb

you would have proverb

they would have proverb

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been proverbing

you would have been proverbing

he/she/it would have been proverbing

we would have been proverbing

you would have been proverbing

they would have been proverbing

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you proverb
we let´s proverb
you proverb

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to proverb

Past participle

proverbed

Present Participle

proverbing

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

SYNONYMS OF «PROVERB»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «proverb» and belong to the same grammatical category.

synonyms of proverb

adage · aphorism · apophthegm · byword · dictum · gnome · maxim · saw · saying

TRANSLATION OF PROVERB

Find out the translation of proverb to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of proverb from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «proverb» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 谚语
• Translator English - Spanish: refrán
• English: proverb
• Translator English - Hindi: कहावत
• Translator English - Arabic: مَثَل
• Translator English - Russian: пословица
• Translator English - Portuguese: provérbio
• Translator English - Bengali: প্রবাদ
• Translator English - French: proverbe
• Translator English - Malay: Peribahasa
• Translator English - German: Sprichwort
• Translator English - Japanese: ことわざ
• Translator English - Korean: 격언
• Translator English - Javanese: Paribasan
• Translator English - Vietnamese: tục ngữ
• Translator English - Tamil: பழமொழி
• Translator English - Marathi: सुप्रसिध्द म्हण
• Translator English - Turkish: atasözü
• Translator English - Italian: proverbio
• Translator English - Polish: przysłowie
• Translator English - Ukrainian: прислів´я
• Translator English - Romanian: proverb
• Translator English - Greek: παροιμία
• Translator English - Afrikaans: spreekwoord
• Translator English - Swedish: ordspråk
• Translator English - Norwegian: ordspråk

9 QUOTES WITH «PROVERB»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word proverb.

1

Nicholson Baker

Until a friend or relative has applied a particular proverb to your own life, or until you've watched him apply the proverb to his own life, it has no power to sway you.

2

Bill Bradley

For a long time, I operated under the Chinese proverb that there are four kinds of leaders: those who you laugh at, those who you hate, those who you love and those who you don't even know that they're leaders.

3

Lewis Carroll

Which form of proverb do you prefer Better late than never, or Better never than late?

4

George Gissing

Time is money says the proverb, but turn it around and you get a precious truth. Money is time.

5

Soichiro Honda

There is a Japanese proverb that literally goes 'Raise the sail with your stronger hand', meaning you must go after the opportunities that arise in life that you are best equipped to do.

6

John Morley

A proverb is good sense brought to a point.

7

Lord John Russell

A proverb is the wisdom of many and the wit of one.

8

Ashwin Sanghi

I believe that patterns tend to repeat themselves and there are connections between the past and the present. There is the old proverb that reads, 'You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been'. For me, history is like that. When you take history and combine it with myth, then you get mystery.

9

Thomas Szasz

The proverb warns that 'You should not bite the hand that feeds you.' But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «PROVERB»

Discover the use of proverb in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to proverb and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

A Proverb in Mind: The Cognitive Science of Proverbial Wit ...

In a field study, Briggs (1985) attempted to show that the definition of the proverb pays insufficient attention to the idea that “the rhetorical force of proverb performances emerges from a subtle and complex use of the pragmatic functions of ...

Richard P. Honeck, 2013

A Proverb a Day Keeps the Devil Away

A Proverb a Day Keeps the Devil Away applies the principles of God found in the Book of Proverbs to daily living.

Philip Ayers, 2008

The Wisdom of Many: Essays on the Proverb

The Wisdom of Manyexplores research on proverbs of many cultures.

Wolfgang Mieder, Alan Dundes, 1994

Proverb Stories (1882)

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

Louisa May Alcott, 2007

Proverbs: A Handbook

Defines and classifies proverbs, and explores their occurrence in oral tradition, literature, art, and popular culture.

Wolfgang Mieder, 2004

The Proverb in the Context of Akan Rhetoric

The book should be of value to folklorists, sociolinguists, anthropologists, literary scholars and students of African studies and communications.

Kwesi Yankah, 2012

Proverbs Remix: Remember That Proverb!

Proverbs Remix: Remember that Proverb! is a select reordering of the Book of Proverbs as found in the New King James Version of the Bible.

Gerald Sablo, 2012

Cheese, Pears, and History in a Proverb

Our story began with a proverb. The moment has come to introduce another, documented for the first time in Dieci tavole di proverbi (Ten tables of proverbs), a collection of maxims in Venetian dialect, of which we have one edition dated 1535 ...

Massimo Montanari, 2013

Yoruba Proverbs

"Yoruba Proverbs is the most comprehensive collection to date of more than five thousand Yoruban proverbs that showcase Yoruba oral tradition.

Oyekan Owomoyela, 2005

Proverb Lore: Many Sayings, Wise Or Otherwise, on Many ...

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.

Frederick Edward Hulme, 2013

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «PROVERB»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term proverb is used in the context of the following news items.

Believe the hype: New Public Enemy album named for Yiddish …

Public Enemy's Chuck D, left, and Flavor Flav performing in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band has a new album, named for a Yiddish proverb. Photo by Ethan ... «Jewish Journal, Jul 15»

What's your favorite African proverb?

(CNN) No wisdom beats the wisdom that's been passed down through the generations. For isn't that, essentially, what a proverb is? CNN's Inside Africa wants to ... «CNN, Jul 15»

ProVerb is 'doing well' after minor car accident

It's believed that ProVerb was involved in a minor car accident, which resulted in him being a little battered and bruised. When The Juice called the rapper to find ... «Channel 24, Jul 15»

Ireland's national proverb is about potatoes, according to this …

It reads "Ireland's proverb says: There are two things in the world that can't be joked [sic] 1. marriage 2. potato". Potatoes are serious business in all fairness. «Entertainment.ie, Jun 15»

Massy University's proverb collecting project

A Massey University-fronted project exploring proverbs from Palmerston North's wide-ranging nationalities aims to provide a valuable window into our culture. «The Press West Coast, May 15»

Dogs bark, but the caravan keeps on... Jose Mourinho uses bizarre …

Jose Mourinho watched Chelsea clinch the Barclays Premier League title then used an obscure Portuguese proverb to slam his side's critics. Eden Hazard set ... «Daily Mail, May 15»

Are these 11 proverbs for the digital age?

It might feel as though certain familiar sayings have existed since the dawn of time. But proverbs have to be invented – and here are some recent candidates. «The Guardian, Apr 15»

Proverb and Dominos; a cheesy combo!

We talk all things music, cheese, toppings and Pizza; oh, and we chat about the ONE song Proverb is kind of embarrassed about when it's played back! «Zalebs, Apr 15»

ProVerb fans will not feel cheated by latest release

MUCH like ProVerb's last four albums, The Read Tape sounds like an "English-cum-figure-of-speech" master class. Puns, similes and metaphors abound. «BDlive, Apr 15»

Forget the proverb: An apple a day doesn't necessarily keep the …

That's according to proverb-busting research that found daily apple eaters had just as many doctor visits as those who ate fewer or no apples. The findings don't ... «Windsor Star, Mar 15»