as in cliche
used or heard so often as to be dull
the shopworn suggestion to job applicants to "just be yourself"
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Recent Examples of shopworn
So much of his work seems dull, shopworn, generic.
—
James Marcus, The New Yorker, 1 June 2020
Carson said — 50 times Carson’s office, on a quiet street in downtown Modesto, was gritty and shopworn and functional in feel.
—Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2021
If your listing has become shopworn, look at reducing the price or offering incentives.
—John Nugent, Houston Chronicle, 4 July 2020
See All Example Sentences for shopworn
James Marcus, The New Yorker, 1 June 2020
Carson said — 50 times Carson’s office, on a quiet street in downtown Modesto, was gritty and shopworn and functional in feel.
—Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2021
If your listing has become shopworn, look at reducing the price or offering incentives.
—John Nugent, Houston Chronicle, 4 July 2020
See All Example Sentences for shopworn
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shopworn
Adjective
-
At the time, Latinos were often cast in stereotyped roles with heavy accents and largely denied the opportunity to direct features.—
Maximilíano Durón,
ARTnews.com,
17 Mar. 2025
-
Tragedies can be examined by those outside of its sphere of destruction, but the groundswell of feeling from Mexican viewers and critics is that there was little or no care taken to understand the cultural grief beyond stereotyped spectacle.—
Lucy Ford,
TIME,
24 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Robbins was mostly Black, a place built by Black people who were tired of racial conflict in Chicago.—
D. Watkins,
The Atlantic,
10 Apr. 2025
-
Was Michelle ever tired of using the vibrator all the time in the show?—
Lexi Carson,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The movie’s a little more hackneyed and obvious now, but its central idea is still an undeniably creepy one: possessed children with pitchforks.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
21 Feb. 2025
-
Which is a nauseatingly hackneyed and clichéd — not to mention stupefyingly reductive — type of statement to make about any kind of art or entertainment, of course.—
Andrew Unterberger,
Billboard,
3 Sep. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Shopworn.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shopworn. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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