axiom Copy link Outline 1. maxima propositio, or simply maxima2. prōnuntiātum • axiom: i. e. a self-evident proposition: 1. maxima propositio, or simply maxima: Boeth.: v. Sir. W. Hamilton's Reid, p. 766. (Hence the Eng. maxim; q. v.) 2. prōnuntiātum: so used in M. L. (v. Sir W. H. l. c.), but in Cic. like effatum, used to represent ἀξίωμα in its sense of proposition generally ("id est pronuntiatum quod est verum aut falsum," Tusc. 1, 7, 14). (Sir W. H. gives the following equivalents among others: effatum fide dignum: rata, firma sententia, ib. p. 764. For the sake of perspicuity it may be necessary to use axioma which, however, as a Latin word, has only modern authority.)