From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishadagead‧age /ˈædɪdʒ/ noun [countable] SLa well-known phrase that says something wise about human experience SYN proverb the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words
Examples from the Corpus
adage• Yet, as the old adage goes: Easier said than done.• However, the old adage that leaders don't lose elections should be seriously questioned.• The old adage is the show must go on.• The old adage that those who try hardest succeed furthest should be made to apply.• He had a sort of dry, if unadventurous, humour in him, as suggested by that dreadful Bell's adage.• Nowhere is the showbiz adage more true than here.• The idea of television against reductionism recalls the adage about fighting for peace, and the equivalent activity for virginity.old adage• Yet, as the old adage goes: Easier said than done.• Until recently, I pictured him as some one whose life confirmed the old adage about the good dying young.• Does the student follow the old adage that to read and paraphrase one book is plagiarism but to use two is research?• Forget the old adage about non-stop bicycling; the growing Community badly needs a decade of constitutional calm.• A crisis in the family makes you realise the old adage that life is not a dress rehearsal.• The old adage is the show must go on.• The old adage needs to be remembered when fighting breaks out in the Balkans.Origin adage (1500-1600) French Latin adagium 