I am currently twirling around in circles trying to find this word. I've heard it used before, and I want to use it in something I am writing, but I can't remember it. On the tip of my brain, but not falling off.
Anyway, the word means something like to state the obvious truth, and it is so obvious that there is little point in stating it.
If I were to use it in a sentence, it would be found in the blank:
"To state it is to utter a ________."
Well, that might be a poor sample sentence.
Edited to add:
Okay, those are all good Thesaurus words, but not the one I am looking for. A further clue is that the word is somewhat pejorative, or perhaps somewhat negative. And it is definitely a noun. I will recognize when it is posted, I promise.
Best Answer
A term that comes to mind from logic is vacuous truth (statement of what cannot be untrue), like WP's example:
Another from logic is tautology (statement of what must be true). I've heard this colloquially applied to phrases like First things first, Enough is enough, or Tomorrow is another day.
I've sometimes found use in shibboleth for the cases in between, as MW says: