stale

¹ American  

[steyl] / steɪl /

adjective

staler, stalest

1. not fresh; vapid or flat, as beverages; dry or hardened, as bread.

   Synonyms:

   insipid, sour, tasteless, hard

   Antonyms:

   fresh

2. musty; stagnant.

   stale air.

3. having lost novelty or interest; hackneyed; trite.

   a stale joke.

   Synonyms:

   common, old, stereotyped, uninteresting

4. having lost freshness, vigor, quick intelligence, initiative, or the like, as from overstrain, boredom, or surfeit.

   He had grown stale on the job and needed a long vacation.

5. Law. having lost force or effectiveness through absence of action, as a claim.

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verb (used with or without object)

staled, staling

1. to make or become stale.

stale ² American  

[steyl] / steɪl /

verb (used without object)

staled, staling

1. (of livestock, especially horses) to urinate.

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stale ¹ British  

/ steɪl /

adjective

1. (esp of food) hard, musty, or dry from being kept too long

2. (of beer, etc) flat and tasteless from being kept open too long

3. (of air) stagnant; foul

4. uninteresting from overuse; hackneyed

   stale clichés

5. no longer new

   stale news

6. lacking in energy or ideas through overwork or lack of variety

7. banking (of a cheque) not negotiable by a bank as a result of not having been presented within six months of being written

8. law (of a claim, etc) having lost its effectiveness or force, as by failure to act or by the lapse of time

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verb

1. to make or become stale

stale ² British  

/ steɪl /

verb

1. (intr) (of livestock) to urinate

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noun

1. the urine of horses or cattle

Other Word Forms

• stalely adverb
• staleness noun

Etymology

Origin of stale¹

1250–1300; Middle English; akin to Middle Dutch stel in same sense; perhaps akin to stand or to stale ²

Origin of stale²

1400–50; late Middle English stalen to urinate; cognate with German stallen, Danish stalle, Norwegian, Swedish stalla

Example Sentences

At the very least, there is every reason to ignore the stale serenade of the bank lobby that any regulation will only hurt the people we are trying to help.

From Los Angeles Times

“It looks very shortsighted to me,” said Mark Green as he fed scraps of stale bread to a group of swans gliding along Christchurch’s waterfront.

From The Wall Street Journal

Product portfolios grew stale at many consumer-products companies because there wasn’t much money to invest, or markets in which to invest.

From Barron's

You can say his act is getting stale, the whole shtick thinning out, but only when an act is truly vivid and has truly pierced can you trace the ups and downs of its lifespan.

From The Wall Street Journal

In a stale and largely uneventful affair in Morocco, it was Sadio Mane's thumping effort 12 minutes from time that was enough to secure Senegal's place in Sunday's final.

From BBC

Related Words

• corny
• dull
• hackneyed
• shopworn
• threadbare
• tired