to ring true
- phrasal verb
- /rɪŋ tru/
- Informal
- Her story about her childhood struggles really rings true to me because I experienced similar challenges.
- certainly rings true
- still rings true
- ring true in the case
I'm afraid that still rings true, folks.
- I'm afraid that still rings true, folks.
- And that never quite rang true with me.
- You've got to experience it and say this rings true to me.
- Conte's comments are ringing true right now.
- But when they do laugh, people say, OK, it rang true.
- But he didn't kill me because what I said rang true.
- This is why the religion of Jean Jacques Rousseau rings true even to me.
- Maybe they even fake a few tears and it doesn't ring true.
- I mean, everything you're saying sort of rings true.
- Now, I didn't look into sort of how true that hypothesis was, but that rang true.
- So very often things can ring true to us if we're from one community where they might not ring true to another.
Examples
-
I'm afraid that still rings true, folks.
-
Wordsworth's quote rings true for me as a parenting author.
Academic text (2009) -
Is, is any of that ring true to you?
-
How long will it take, then For that to ring true?
-
Likely, the same answers will ring true for your students.
Academic text (2012) -
Does that ring true for why this mechanism works?
-
When we think about our perceptions of things, does this ring true with us?
-
Now, Scott is hoping that his proclamation will ring true for another New York quarterback.
Blog text (2) -
Certainly, this rings true with regard to the treatment of miracles in the seventeenth century.
Academic text (2006) -
Jackson's message to Congress also rings true with regard to DAPA.
Academic text (2018)
Antonyms
How Believable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to appear to be genuine' is directly derivable from combining 'ring' (here meaning 'to sound/come across') with 'true' (accurate). This sound-based metaphor is common cross-linguistically and follows a straightforward compositional pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Ring true comes from the image of a bell: if a bell rings clear and full it feels real, not hollow. So, when something 'rings true' it 'sounds' believable.