cornball

American  

[kawrn-bawl] / ˈkɔrnˌbɔl /

noun

1. popcorn rolled into a ball and flavored with molasses or caramel.

2. Informal.

   1. a person who indulges in clichés or sentimentality.

   2. a country bumpkin; hick.

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adjective

1. Informal. corny.

cornball British  

/ ˈkɔːnˌbɔːl /

noun

1. a person given to mawkish or unsophisticated behaviour

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adjective

1. another word for corny

Etymology

Origin of cornball

1835–45, corn ¹ + ball ¹; cornball defs. 2, 3 influenced by slang sense of corn. screwball, oddball

Example Sentences

Once I noticed that the supermarket where I shop was churning out generic cornball Walmart country music to a staff that consisted almost entirely of Hispanic women.

From The Wall Street Journal

The show can border on the cornball; the characters are the sort you might have seen in the sort of dramas popular in 1868.

From Los Angeles Times

For all its emotionality, the dialogue can be a little flat, a little stiff, a little cornball.

From Los Angeles Times

The video monitors went their own crazy way, whether unmusically flipping from close-ups of fingers and lips or attempting surreal cornball special effects.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s intellectual, philosophical, sentimental, even cornball.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• archetypal
• characteristic
• common
• customary
• ordinary
• prototypical
• stereotypic
• stock
• traditional
• typical
• usual