stale¹ Definition
stale (stāl)
adjective stal′er, stal′·est
- having lost freshness; made musty, dry, bad, etc. by having been kept too long; specif.,
- flat; vapid; tasteless stale beer
- hard and dry: said of bread, etc.
- low in oxygen content; stagnant stale air
- having lost originality or newness; lacking in interest through familiarity or overuse; hackneyed; trite a stale joke, stale gossip
- out of condition, ineffective, enervated, bored, etc. from either too much or too little activity
- Law having lost legal force or effect through lack of use or action, as a claim or lien
Etymology: ME, prob. via Anglo-Norm < OFr estale, quiet, stagnant < Gmc *stall: for IE base see still
transitive verb, intransitive verb staled, stal′·ing
to make or become stale
stale¹ Related Forms
stale² Definition
stale (stāl)
intransitive verb staled, stal′·ing
to urinate: said as of horses and cattle
Etymology: ME, akin to MLowG stal, urine < IE base *(s)tel-, to let flow, urinate > Gr stalassein, to drip, telma, puddle
noun
urine, as of horses or cattle
stale Synonyms
stale
modif.
stale Usage Examples
Adjective complement with noun phrase
- go: House music has gone a bit stale of late - true or false?
- get: If its not busy, the food gets a bit stale.
Modifying Another Word
- slightly: I found many of them, however, to be slightly stale.
- somewhat: His repertoire is getting, well, somewhat stale.
- rather: Good news, tho Futurama became rather stale near the end.
- little: Our internal affairs have been a little stale these past couple of centuries.
- too: Gospel truths should not be too plain for our mouths, or too stale for your ears.
- never: I prefer to tailor make songs and tracks to the artists because it keeps me young and fresh and never stale.
Infinitive complement
trim: In the year stales to trim of strokes cancer.
Modifies a noun
- seedbed: In spring cereals, allowing time for a stale seedbed helps to reduce weed numbers in the growing crop.
- bread: Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?
- urine: Causes The cause of diaper rash is the skin being kept wet along with the chemical irritation of ammonia, produced by stale urine.
- odor: They have an old and stale odor about them.
- smell: Any buds which appear crushed or compressed, which contain seeds or which have a stale smell, are probably misrepresented imported bush.
- sweat: The odor of car fumes mingled with cigarette smoke and stale sweat stuck in my throat.
Used with adjective complement
- become: Plays or theater pieces can very quickly become stale.
- go: By: Paul Winter Has your marriage gone stale?
- grow: Artists who donât run the risk of growing stale, their meaning formulaic.
- get: Indeed, the whole site is getting quite stale.
- feel: Your trainee will have energy and ideas which will revive you if you feel stale!
Browse dictionary entries near stale
- ‹ stalagmite
- ‹ stalag
- ‹ stalactite
- ‹ stalactiform
- ‹ Stakhanovism
- ‹ stakeout
- ‹ stakeholder
- ‹ Staked Plain
- ‹ stake truck
- ‹ stake body

