hackneyed

adjective

hack·neyed ˈhak-nēd

Synonyms of hackneyed next

: lacking in freshness or originality

hackneyed slogans

Did you know?

In his 1926 tome A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, lexicographer H. W. Fowler offers a good deal of advice under the heading “Hackneyed Phrases.” While some of the phrases he cautions against (“too funny for words,” “my better half”) will be familiar to most readers today, others (such as “hinc illae lacrimae”) have fallen into obscurity. Fowler was not the first usage writer to warn against the overuse of hackneyed (that is, trite or clichéd) phrases; a number of authors in the late 19th and early 20th century had similarly (hackneyed phrase alert) taken up the cudgels against trite and banal turns of phrase. In 1897, for example, Frederic Lawrence Knowles advised against using “agitate the tintinnabulatory,” and in 1917 Margaret Ashmun and Gerhard Lomer discouraged “the dreamy mazes of the waltz.” Were these hackneyed phrases so objected to that they became obsolete? This is unlikely, as the same manuals which object to long-dead expressions also object to “blushing bride,” “bated breath,” and “one fell swoop,” all of which have survived. Perhaps a more plausible explanation is that phrases come and go with time. This is, in a way, a pleasant explanation, for it means that the seemingly ubiquitous phrase you detest stands a fair chance of falling by the wayside. Only time will tell, as they say.

Choose the Right Synonym for hackneyed

trite, hackneyed, stereotyped, threadbare mean lacking the freshness that evokes attention or interest.

trite applies to a once effective phrase or idea spoiled from long familiarity.

"you win some, you lose some" is a trite expression

hackneyed stresses being worn out by overuse so as to become dull and meaningless.

all of the metaphors and images in the poem are hackneyed

stereotyped implies falling invariably into the same pattern or form.

views of minorities that are stereotyped and out-of-date

threadbare applies to what has been used until its possibilities of interest have been totally exhausted.

a mystery novel with a threadbare plot

Examples of hackneyed in a Sentence

it's hackneyed, but true—the more you save the more you earn

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Good news is bad news for investors, as the hackneyed phrase goes. —

Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 13 Jan. 2025 But the hackneyed drama hasn’t mustered much enthusiasm from critics or moviegoers, and was unsurprisingly overlooked in the Globes’ best drama category. —

Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 9 Dec. 2024 Revelations that are supposed to be moving and heartfelt feel hackneyed and clichéd, and it’s not helped by Shyamalan’s amateurish performance. —

Will Leitch, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2024 Wan bodies the haunted house subgenre here, creating an immersive atmosphere grounded in masterful storytelling and a scrupulous '70s mise-en-scène, one that earns all of its scares by avoiding hackneyed stunts and over-the-top theatrics. —

Danny Horn, James Mercadante, Ilana Gordon, EW.com, 31 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for hackneyed