Talk:truest
If a fact is a true fact, can we also have a truer fact and a truest fact? I think not. None of the examples in the entry for "true" support the existence of the words, "truer" or "truest". Since my 2nd grader has been asked to give a definition of the word "truest," I am putting a citation from his book on the citation page. The point remains that the definition given in the Entry is robotic and is unsupported by examples, including the citation I've just added. RB 66.217.117.27 00:34, 9 November 2010 (UTC)
- The information should be at true, using
{{comparable}}and{{not comparable}}. Mglovesfun (talk) 00:37, 9 November 2010 (UTC)
Mglovesfun,
I wrote at http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User_talk:Mglovesfun#truest, "I think I'm on to something, that the current definition for "truest" is incorrect."
- You replied, "Not really sure why you think it's incorrect. The New Oxford Dictionary of English gives true (truer, truest) and "the truest" gets 829,000 results on Google Books."
(1) As I understand it, an entry in another dictionary is not a CFI in wiktionary.
(2) If you click to the last page, you will see that the Google results count for "the truest" is less than 254, not 829,000.
(3) For many or most of these Google examples, the words "the truest" can be replaced with "true" or "the true" without changing the meaning of the author. By definition, things that are identical do not have a degree of difference other than "no difference"; thus these are not examples of superlatives. This is sufficient to prove that there are one or more missing definitions at truest.
(4) I've posted citations that indicate the use of "truest" may include the ideas of hyperbole, exaggeration, arrogance, empty rhetoric, and lack of certitude.
(5) Regarding whether or not the current definition is correct, we would need to find at least one of the six definitions at true that is comparable. The Indiana Department of Education seems to be teaching in Reading Street Indiana (Afflerbach, et. al.) that definition
3. loyal, faithful
is "comparable". So, I ask, is a "truest friend" more true than a "true friend"? Although the words loyal and faithful are comparable, I don't see that this possibility makes a true friend any less true than a truest friend. And if true and truest are identities, definition 3. is "not comparable". RB 66.217.118.141 18:47, 11 November 2010 (UTC)