cliché
or cli·che
a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse, as sadder but wiser, or strong as an ox.
(in art, literature, drama, etc.) a trite or hackneyed plot, character development, use of color, musical expression, etc.
anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.
British Printing.
a stereotype or electrotype plate.
a reproduction made in a like manner.
trite; hackneyed; stereotyped; clichéd.
Origin of cliché
1Other words for cliché
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cliché in a sentence
Spiritual gurus who use their power to facilitate sexual encounters with their students are something of a cliché.
Australia’s Underage Yoga Sex Cult: The Survivors Speak Out | Lizzie Crocker | December 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI hate to use such a tired cliché, but it does feel like the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Idris Elba on Eric Garner, ‘Mi Mandela,’ and Selling Weed to Dave Chappelle | Marlow Stern | December 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHowever, hard though it may be to write about love in a non-cliché way, Dunham sometimes pulls it off.
He presumably felt he owed it to himself to make one more visit to hell and report back with a cliché-busting dispatch.
“When we first came up with the idea, we were wondering if it was too cliché,” Carter says.
'Nick & Knight': Nick Carter and Jordan Knight Are Your New Boy Band Power Couple | Kevin Fallon | September 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
I don't want to go back into my life, I don't want to trot out the old 'more sinned against than sinning' cliché.
Bella Donna | Robert HichensA word whose customary feeling-tone is too unquestioningly accepted becomes a plushy bit of furniture, a cliché.
Language | Edward SapirWe are so familiar with the venerable cliché that we can but wonder at its gift of eternal youth.
Our Philadelphia | Elizabeth Robins PennellWilderton listened, and thought: "Dreadfully cliché; why can't someone say straight out that boys enough have been killed?"
Tatterdemalion | John GalsworthyIn making up a plate it sometimes happens that a cliché is placed upside down.
What Philately Teaches | John N. Luff
British Dictionary definitions for cliché
/ (ˈkliːʃeɪ) /
a word or expression that has lost much of its force through overexposure, as for example the phrase: it's got to get worse before it gets better
an idea, action, or habit that has become trite from overuse
printing, mainly British a stereotype or electrotype plate
Origin of cliché
1Derived forms of cliché
- clichd or clich'd, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for cliché
A much used expression that has lost its freshness and descriptive power. Some clichés are “I thank you from the bottom of my heart” and “It's only a drop in the bucket.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse