- maxim, axiom - a saying that widely accepted on its own merits
--1 is a kind of saying, expression, locution
--1 has particulars: aphorism, apothegm, apophthegm; gnome; moralism - Maxim, Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim - English inventor (born in the United States) who invented the Maxim gun that was used in World War I (1840-1916)
--2 is a kind of inventor, discoverer, artificer