stale
1not fresh; vapid or flat, as beverages; dry or hardened, as bread.
musty; stagnant: stale air.
having lost novelty or interest; hackneyed; trite: a stale joke.
having lost freshness, vigor, quick intelligence, initiative, or the like, as from overstrain, boredom, or surfeit: He had grown stale on the job and needed a long vacation.
Law. having lost force or effectiveness through absence of action, as a claim.
to make or become stale.
Origin of stale
1Other words for stale
Opposites for stale
Other words from stale
- stalely, adverb
- staleness, noun
Words Nearby stale
Other definitions for stale (2 of 2)
(of livestock, especially horses) to urinate.
Origin of stale
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use stale in a sentence
To make them, I start by cutting a loaf of stale sourdough bread into large cubes and scattering them across a sheet tray.
Homemade, seasoned breadcrumbs add crunch and flavor to pastas, vegetables and more | Jesse Szewczyk | October 30, 2020 | Washington PostIf Zoom and other video chats have grown stale, hosting your own small get-togethers is a possibility.
Sick Of COVID-19? Here’s Why You Might Have Pandemic Fatigue | LGBTQ-Editor | October 24, 2020 | No Straight NewsThe product lines in the CPG category are all hotly competitive, and profit margins, already low, shrivel quickly once a brand grows stale.
How Clorox’s new CEO plans to turn disinfectant wipes into future wins | Phil Wahba | October 21, 2020 | FortuneKohl’s problem is that too many of its store brands grew stale, particularly in apparel.
Kohl’s bets on more activewear, fewer store brands to finally get back to growth | Phil Wahba | October 20, 2020 | FortuneConversely, if the queue worker does not run frequently enough, the queue will stay high, and stale pages will remain in cache and be served to end users for longer than desired.
Both are stale and boring, and whichever one you end up having in the end is still unpleasant.
Team Peeta or Team Gale: Why the ‘Hunger Games’ Love Triangle Ruins ‘Mockingjay – Part 1’ | Kevin Fallon | November 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTTo call them mediocre, uninspiring, and stale would be overly generous.
Latinos Aren’t a ‘Cheap Date’ for Democrats Anymore | Ruben Navarrette Jr. | November 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe issues seem “stale” only because the commentators demand to be entertained.
What Al Franken’s Normcore Senate Race Can Teach Other Democrats | Ana Marie Cox | October 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTInstead, they will be at best a stale and bitter punchline of our times and then fade, unloved, into obscurity.
A Brief History of Wingnuts in America; From George Washington to Woodstock | John Avlon | August 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFine, she says, but they lived on three stale sandwiches a day.
‘We Cannot Return to Guatemala’: An Immigrant Mother’s Plea | Sarah Moga | July 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe outside, also, well polished with sweet oil and stale milk, then enveloped in chamois leather.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.They also know how to blow out and dress stale poultry, so as to make it look quite fresh and plump.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida PfeifferIt reeked with stale tobacco-smoke, the smell of cookery, and the odors of frowsy clothes.
The Gold Trail | Harold BindlossLong habit had not made her merit stale to me—the flavor of it was always fresh and new.
Women of Modern France | Hugo P. ThiemeLet us have your news anyway, and forgive this silly stale effusion.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) | Robert Louis Stevenson
British Dictionary definitions for stale (1 of 2)
/ (steɪl) /
(esp of food) hard, musty, or dry from being kept too long
(of beer, etc) flat and tasteless from being kept open too long
(of air) stagnant; foul
uninteresting from overuse; hackneyed: stale clichés
no longer new: stale news
lacking in energy or ideas through overwork or lack of variety
banking (of a cheque) not negotiable by a bank as a result of not having been presented within six months of being written
law (of a claim, etc) having lost its effectiveness or force, as by failure to act or by the lapse of time
to make or become stale
Origin of stale
1Derived forms of stale
- stalely, adverb
- staleness, noun
British Dictionary definitions for stale (2 of 2)
/ (steɪl) /
(intr) (of livestock) to urinate
the urine of horses or cattle
Origin of stale
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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