threadbare
Americanadjective
-
having the nap worn off so as to lay bare the threads of the warp and woof, as a fabric, garment, etc.
-
wearing threadbare clothes; shabby or poor.
a threadbare old man.
-
meager, scanty, or poor.
a threadbare emotional life.
-
hackneyed; trite; ineffectively stale.
threadbare arguments.
adjective
-
(of cloth, clothing, etc) having the nap worn off so that the threads are exposed
-
meagre or poor
a threadbare existence
-
hackneyed
a threadbare argument
-
wearing threadbare clothes; shabby
Other Word Forms
- threadbareness noun
Etymology
Origin of threadbare
First recorded in 1325–75, threadbare is from the Middle English word thredbare. See thread, bare 1
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.
“She began being grateful for the blankets, the only thing she had — and they were threadbare blankets,” Conniff says.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026
In trying to prevent the goal, Joe Gomez picked up an injury to further deplete Liverpool's already threadbare options at centre-back.
From Barron's • Jan. 24, 2026
Bringing my “whole self” to every moment left me threadbare.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025
Her attorney, Abbe Lowell, dismissed the referral as “three pages of stale, threadbare allegations.”
From Salon • Sep. 17, 2025
On the topmost shelf, above a rail of threadbare clothes, a small cardboard box was shaking and rattling as though there were several frantic mice trapped inside it.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
