Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Worn thin, with the fabric nap gone and the underlying threads visible: Describes cloth, fabric, or material that is extremely thin and frayed from extensive use.
   • Overused and lacking originality or freshness: Describes ideas, phrases, jokes, or arguments that have been used so frequently they have become stale, predictable, and ineffective.

Usage Examples

• Literal meaning (worn fabric):

  • He refused to throw away his threadbare sweater, despite the holes.
  • The threadbare carpet in the hallway needed to be replaced.

• Figurative meaning (overused idea):

  • The politician's threadbare arguments failed to convince the new generation of voters.
  • The film relied on a threadbare plot that audiences had seen many times before.

Advanced Usage

• "threadbare excuse": A justification or reason that is weak, unconvincing, and has been used too often.
  • She gave a threadbare excuse for being late again.
• "threadbare finances/resources": Metaphorically describes funds, supplies, or capabilities that are severely depleted or stretched to their limit.
  • The charity continued its work despite threadbare resources.

Variants and Related Words

• Threadbareness (n): The state or quality of being threadbare.
  • The threadbareness of the upholstery showed its age.

Synonyms

• Literal: Worn-out, frayed, tattered, shabby, ragged.
• Figurative: Hackneyed, trite, clichéd, stale, banal, overused, timeworn.

Antonyms

• Literal: New, pristine, unworn, plush.
• Figurative: Original, fresh, innovative, novel.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "Wear thin": Similar to becoming threadbare, this idiom can refer to both material wearing out and patience, excuses, or arguments losing their effectiveness due to overuse.
  • His patience was wearing thin. / That excuse is wearing thin.
• "Down at heel": While specifically referring to worn shoes, it shares the connotation of shabbiness and poverty often associated with threadbare clothing.

Adjective

1. having the nap worn away so that the threads show through
   • threadbare rugs
2. 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'