hackneyed Hear it!

hackneyed Definition

hack·neyed (-nēd′)

adjective

made trite by overuse

hackneyed Synonyms

hackneyed

modif.

worn-out, old, trite; see common 1, dull 4. See syn. study at trite.

hackneyed Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • phrase: They give people, in that hackneyed contemporary phrase, 'a sense of identity ' .
  • stereotype: I'm not against it per-se, I just hate it when the same old hackneyed stereotypes are used over and over again.
  • image: Despite the elegant phrasing, these hackneyed images risk reducing Irish history to textbook postcolonial illustrations.
  • cliche: Second Half Surge Sinks Rotherham The hackneyed old football cliché, ' a game of two halves ' , was proved correct yet again.
  • cliches: Why then, was the Tory's final broadcast of the campaign a return to the hackneyed clichés of yore?
  • situation: This at least means that some of the fairly hackneyed situations come across as fresh and funny.

Modifying Another Word

  • rather: This is a real shame as the role does have potential to really deliver a great performance, despite the rather hackneyed script.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: Repeated ad nauseam, however, the whole thing becomes hackneyed, stagnant and, dare I say it, dangerously self-referential.
hackneyed Quotes

A man must serve his time to every trade Save censureöcritics all are ready made. Take hackneyed jokes from Miller, got by rote, With just enough of learning to misquote.

—Rochdale