corny

¹ American  

[kawr-nee] / ˈkɔr ni /

adjective

cornier, corniest

1. of or abounding in corn.

2. Informal.

   1. old-fashioned, trite, or lacking in subtlety.

      corny jokes.

   2. mawkishly sentimental.

      a corny soap opera.

   Synonyms:

   stale, banal, hackneyed

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corny ² American  

[kawr-nee] / ˈkɔr ni /

adjective

cornier, corniest

1. pertaining to or affected with corns of the feet.

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corny British  

/ ˈkɔːnɪ /

adjective

1. trite or banal

2. sentimental or mawkish

3. abounding in corn

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Other Word Forms

• cornily adverb
• corniness noun

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

First recorded in 1700–10; corn ² + -y ¹

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.

Example Sentences

And as corny as that may seem, I implore you: If you have even one microscopic iota of curiosity, see this film.

From Salon • Mar. 21, 2026

Amy asks her and somehow Wilson delivers that line with a lilt that keeps it from sounding corny.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2026

“Not to be corny, but it just fueled my soul,” Huckaby said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

I could tell they were scared to have others see it because I’m sure it’s hard to write something like that and not make it corny or inauthentic.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 1, 2026

At first I felt pretty good about not letting Selena get the best of me, even though my Irish spring joke was kind of corny.

From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez

Related Words

• banal
• dull
• hackneyed
• kitschy
• mawkish
• melodramatic
• old-fashioned
• sentimental
• stale