Thought-terminating cliché

A thought-terminating cliché is a form of loaded language — often passing as folk wisdom — intended to end an argument and reinforce cognitive dissonance with a cliché rather than a point. Some such clichés are not inherently terminating and only become so when used to intentionally dismiss dissent or justify fallacies.

The term was popularized by Robert Jay Lifton in his 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, who referred to the use of the cliché, along with "loading the language", as "the language of non-thought".

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