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.

---

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.

---

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

---

verb

1. to make or become stale

stale ² British  

/ steɪl /

verb

1. (intr) (of livestock) to urinate

---

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

In dollar terms, there’s a total of $347 billion worth of stale inventory on the market nationwide—up 4.3% annually.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

An editor who shall remain nameless told me today that no one seemed to care about the latest consumer price index print—that it was stale data in the wake of rising oil prices.

From Barron's • Mar. 11, 2026

They aren’t just stale; to use Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy’s excellent new phrase, they’re as “dead as fried chicken.”

From MarketWatch • Mar. 11, 2026

It’s stale to nearly all but his biggest sycophants.

From Salon • Feb. 25, 2026

It was the same thing every day, and it was so boring and old and dry like stale bread I couldn’t believe they kept trying for as long as they did.

From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan

Related Words

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