hackneyed
Adjective: 1. Lacking originality due to excessive use: Describes a word, phrase, idea, or expression that has been used so frequently that it has lost its freshness, impact, or meaning. It implies something is stale and predictable.
The adjective "hackneyed" is used to critique language, concepts, or artistic elements that are clichéd. It is a formal and critical term. - It typically modifies nouns like phrase, expression, idea, metaphor, theme, plot, saying, trope, sentiment. - It often appears in contexts of literary, artistic, or rhetorical criticism.
- The film's plot was entertaining but relied on a hackneyed premise about an underdog sports team.
- The speaker filled his presentation with hackneyed business jargon like "thinking outside the box" and "synergy."
- She avoided using hackneyed expressions in her poetry, striving for unique imagery.
- His advice, though well-intentioned, felt hackneyed and offered no new insight.
- "to become hackneyed": Describes the process by which a once-fresh expression loses its power.
- That metaphor was clever when first coined, but it has become hackneyed through imitation.
- "hackneyed to the point of...": Emphasizes the extreme degree of overuse.
- The romantic subplot was hackneyed to the point of parody.
- Hackney (noun, historical): A horse-drawn carriage kept for hire; the term's origin relates to ordinary, common, or overused things.
- Hack (noun, informal): Can mean a writer producing dull, unoriginal work, closely related to the concept of "hackneyed" writing.
- Trite: Suggests something is shallow and simplistic due to overuse.
- Clichéd: Directly refers to an overused stereotype or phrase.
- Banal: Lacking originality and freshness; dull.
- Stale: No longer fresh or interesting.
- Threadbare: Worn out from overuse (like fabric).
- Timeworn: Antiquated from long use.
- Stock: Standard and routinely used, implying a lack of thought (e.g., a stock answer).
- Original
- Fresh
- Novel
- Innovative
- Imaginative
While "hackneyed" itself is not typically part of a phrasal verb, it describes the state of many common idioms. - A hackneyed phrase/expression: The most common collocation. - "At the end of the day" is now considered a hackneyed expression.
- repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
- bromidic sermons
- his remarks were trite and commonplace
- hackneyed phrases
- a stock answer
- repeating threadbare jokes
- parroting some timeworn axiom
- the trite metaphor `hard as nails'