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1 Definition
A true principle or belief, especially one considered fundamental or unchanging, or the quality of being true.
2 In Use
The old professor spoke of certain verities that no amount of modern skepticism had managed to shake.
3 Word Origin
verus Lat. · true → veritas Lat. · truth → verite Middle English
Verity descends from the Latin adjective verus, meaning true, which gave rise to the abstract noun veritas, or truth itself. The word passed through Old French as verite before settling into Middle English, where it took on its current spelling and sense of an established, unshakable truth. Over centuries it drifted from everyday speech into a more formal register, favored by philosophers, theologians, and writers reaching for something weightier than the plain word truth.
💡Fun Fact
Verity shares its Latin root with an entire family of words English speakers use constantly without noticing, including verify, verdict, and even verisimilitude. The name Verity also became popular as a given name among English Puritans in the seventeenth century, part of a wave of virtue names like Prudence and Patience meant to instill moral character from birth. Today the word carries a slightly old fashioned, almost courtroom solemnity, which is exactly why writers reach for it when truth alone feels too thin.
