cornball
Americannoun
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popcorn rolled into a ball and flavored with molasses or caramel.
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Informal.
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a person who indulges in clichés or sentimentality.
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a country bumpkin; hick.
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adjective
noun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of cornball
1835–45, corn 1 + ball 1; cornball defs. 2, 3 influenced by slang sense of corn. Cf. screwball, oddball
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The music won over the suits, and the Bayou Boys soon had their own daily program, “Hayloft Hoedown,” a mix of blistering, acoustic-only live performances and manic cornball comedy skits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
This much silence from pop music’s most dramatic main character, biggest cornball and most profligate breadcrumb dropper has rattled the usual channels for all things Swift.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
For all its emotionality, the dialogue can be a little flat, a little stiff, a little cornball.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2025
It’s in the series’ DNA to be a little cornball, and that there’s nothing overtly fancy or stylish in the production reflects the sort of nonliterary literature from which it springs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2023
"Yeah, he might not say stuff like, Jazz is a cornball," I teased, looking over her shoulder at what she was working on.
From "When I Was the Greatest" by Jason Reynolds
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
