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 direction of Michael Greif and Schele Williams valiantly tries to contain the material’s hokiness without undercutting the wishfulness that lies at the heart of the story’s broad emotional appeal.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2026

Even the look of the letters—deliberately plain to the point of hokiness, with old-school fonts and layout hardly changed in fifty years—is didactic.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 29, 2016

Advertisement Advertisement The dialogue is direct to the point of hokiness.

From New York Times • Nov. 12, 2015

I found this whole sequence thrilling, notwithstanding the hokiness of the time-lapse idea itself.

From Slate • Apr. 30, 2012

OK, so looking back, the Harlequin hokiness of it all is a bit much.

From Time Magazine Archive