stale
1not fresh; vapid or flat, as beverages; dry or hardened, as bread.
musty; stagnant: stale air.
having lost novelty or interest; hackneyed; trite: a stale joke.
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.
Law. having lost force or effectiveness through absence of action, as a claim.
to make or become stale.
Origin of stale
1Other words for stale
Opposites for stale
Other words from stale
- stalely, adverb
- staleness, noun
Other definitions for stale (2 of 2)
(of livestock, especially horses) to urinate.
Origin of stale
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use stale in a sentence
The air in the Panagia church has “a stale wood and mold base, top notes of apple and rosewater, and a spicy heart of myrrh and cinnamon.”
These loaves are often quite thick and, even if they’re beginning to go stale, pretty fresh in the middle.
Turn that old bread into pizza in less than 30 minutes | By Farideh Sadeghin/Saveur | January 29, 2021 | Popular-ScienceOne night, when we ran out of graham crackers, I got creative with a couple of almost-stale chocolate chip cookies.
Have s’more fun with pretzels, caramel, toasted coconut and cookies | Daniela Galarza | January 12, 2021 | Washington PostHe had junked many of Target’s big but stale brands and launched 30 new store brands in 30 months in areas like home goods and apparel, some of which became billion-dollar businesses in their first year.
How Bed Bath & Beyond’s CEO tamed its trademark coupons—and turned the retailer around | Phil Wahba | November 10, 2020 | FortuneTake your time, allow yourself to get lost in the process, and breathe some new life into your stale bread.
Homemade, seasoned breadcrumbs add crunch and flavor to pastas, vegetables and more | Jesse Szewczyk | October 30, 2020 | Washington Post
Belong to t'other zide o' the moor, and come staling shape to our zide.
Lorna Doone | R. D. BlackmoreThe occation was for staling a small bark of littell or no vallue.
Diary of Richard Cocks Vol. I | Richard CocksIs it not perceivable that it had, on the contrary, a staling quality?
This Freedom | A. S. M. HutchinsonHe straightened his slouched shoulders, and the fog left his eyes and the fumes of staling alcohol quit his brain.
Old Judge Priest | Irvin S. CobbThey show by degrees the gradual, and then the rapid, staling of Rosalie's fond sympathies.
This Freedom | A. S. M. Hutchinson
British Dictionary definitions for stale (1 of 2)
/ (steɪl) /
(esp of food) hard, musty, or dry from being kept too long
(of beer, etc) flat and tasteless from being kept open too long
(of air) stagnant; foul
uninteresting from overuse; hackneyed: stale clichés
no longer new: stale news
lacking in energy or ideas through overwork or lack of variety
banking (of a cheque) not negotiable by a bank as a result of not having been presented within six months of being written
law (of a claim, etc) having lost its effectiveness or force, as by failure to act or by the lapse of time
to make or become stale
Origin of stale
1Derived forms of stale
- stalely, adverb
- staleness, noun
British Dictionary definitions for stale (2 of 2)
/ (steɪl) /
(intr) (of livestock) to urinate
the urine of horses or cattle
Origin of stale
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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