corny
1 Americanadjective
adjective
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trite or banal
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sentimental or mawkish
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abounding in corn
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of corny1
First recorded in 1350–1400; 1930–35 corny 1 for def. 2; Middle English; corn 1 + -y 1
Origin of corny2
Explanation
If your Uncle Marvin has a habit of telling corny jokes, they probably make you groan every single time. Corny describes something that's either worn out and tiresome or overly sentimental — and sometimes both. It can be hard to talk about something emotional without becoming corny. Try describing love at first sight without becoming trite or stickily sentimental and you'll know first-hand how easily you can find yourself sounding corny. For years corny simply meant "full of corn," or "tasting of malt." Sometime in the 1930s it became popular slang meaning "appealing to country folk," who were also described at the time as corn-fed, because of their supposed connection to farms.
Vocabulary lists containing corny
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.
Corny folks tend to be honest and earnest in their aims, and the best don't care what people think.
From Salon • May 8, 2024
He found out his dad was nick-named Corny through the poem.
From BBC • Jan. 2, 2024
Corny jokes and smart humor battle it out in “Reboot,” a half-hour comedy about a millennial writer’s effort to revamp an early 2000s family sitcom for a new generation of viewers.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 20, 2022
Children of the Corny: Kids who suffer through dad jokes.
From Washington Post • Jun. 30, 2022
Masser Corny tell me dat, long time ago; when I war' little boy.
From The Chainbearer Or, The Littlepage Manuscripts by Cooper, James Fenimore
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.
