grain of truth
5
3.9
- noun
- Informal
:
un grano de verdad
- But I'm going to assume there's a grain of truth in all this.
- contains a grain of truth
- more than a grain of truth
You may just isolate further, despite the grain of truth that may be there.
- You may just isolate further, despite the grain of truth that may be there.
- And so I think there is a little bit of grain of truth to that.
- Like you just, you know, you think like, is there a grain of truth in that?
- In other words, we may end up seeing a shred of truth, a grain of truth in what it is this other person is saying.
- And it's, it's, it's a strange one to tell the people that you don't really know if it, if it didn't have some at least grain of truth to it.
- And, and perhaps some people might say that's quite a pretentious stance and perhaps be kind of a grain of truth in that.
Examples
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There is certainly a grain of truth to that criticism.
Blog text (32) -
I know this is hard to take, but there is a grain of truth in every controversy.
Blog text (22) -
And so I think there is a little bit of grain of truth to that.
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There has to be some grain of truth or reality.
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I mean, there is a grain of truth there.
-
Suppose there is a grain of truth to it.
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All myths have a grain of truth.
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Every conspiracy theory contains a grain of truth, right?
-
While both sides exaggerated their claims, each had some grain of truth.
Academic text (2009) -
There is a grain of truth in the rumors about his background.
Synonyms
16
6.7
A statement that is partly true but leaves out important facts to mislead
1
4.6
A small clear fact that is correct among many wrong things
How True
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a small but significant amount of truth' is directly derivable from combining 'grain' (a tiny amount) with 'truth' and the linking preposition 'of'—the metaphor of a 'grain' as a small portion is straightforward. This compositional pattern is common in English and has parallels in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words is likely to infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Grain of truth comes from the image of a tiny grain, like a small seed, hidden in a pile of false stories, where one small truth still stands out. So it means 'a small but real part of a story that is mostly untrue'.