Other forms: maxims
A maxim is a short rule of conduct people live by. An old maxim, live by the maxim, the maxim that honesty pays.
It is shorter than a principle and more practical than a proverb: a maxim tells you what to do. Kant built an entire ethics on the word, asking whether you could will your maxim to become a universal law.
1nounmaximA short rule of conduct people live by.
“My grandfather lived by the maxim 'waste not, want not'.”
maxim is a rule.
Latin maxima propositio meant the greatest proposition, from maximus, greatest.
Latin
maxima — axiom
Middle French
maxime
Anglo-Norman
maxime
English, today
maxim
Built from
From Anglo-Norman maxime and Middle French maxime, from Latin maxima (“axiom”), noun use of the feminine singular form of Latin maximus (apparently as used in the phrase prōpositiō maxima (“greatest premise”)). a doublet of maxima.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA