Platitude from French platitude (flatness), from plat (flat), from Greek πλατύς (platys), PIE *pleth₂- (flat). Speech that lies flat — without elevation, depth, or surprise. Same root as plate, plateau, plaza, platform, platypus, and Plato. Voltaire was among the first to use it as literary criticism.
A remark or statement that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful; a flat, dull, or trite observation offered as if it were meaningful.
From French 'platitude' (flatness, dullness, triteness), from 'plat' (flat, dull), from Old French 'plat,' from Vulgar Latin *plattus, from Greek 'platys' (πλατύς, wide, flat, broad), from PIE *pleth₂- (to spread out, to be flat). The PIE root *pleth₂- generated Greek 'plateia' (broad street, source of 'plaza' and 'place'), 'platys' (wide, source of 'plate,' 'plateau,' 'platform,' and 'Plato' — whose name derives from a nickname meaning 'broad-shouldered' or 'wide'), and Latin 'plānus' (flat, source of 'plain,' 'plane,' and 'explain'). A platitude is literally a 'flat statement' — one spread so thin and wide by repetition that all substance