'Threadbare' definitions:
Definition of 'threadbare'
From: WordNet
adjective
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'" [syn: banal, commonplace, hackneyed, old-hat, shopworn, stock(a), threadbare, timeworn, tired, trite, well-worn]
adjective
Having the nap worn away so that the threads show through; "threadbare rugs"
Definition of 'Threadbare'
From: GCIDE
- Threadbare \Thread"bare`\, a.
- 1. Worn to the naked thread; having the nap worn off; threadbare clothes. "A threadbare cope." --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Fig.: Worn out; as, a threadbare subject; stale topics and threadbare quotations. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'threadbare'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- back-number,
- banal,
- bare,
- bathetic,
- bewhiskered,
- boring,
- bromidic,
- cliche,
- cliche-ridden,
- cliched,
- common,
- commonplace,
- corny,
- cut-and-dried,
- damaged,
- deep-worn,
- dilapidated,
- dingy,
- dog-eared,
- down-at-heel,
- dull,
- fade,
- faded,
- familiar,
- frayed,
- fusty,
- hack,
- hackney,
- hackneyed,
- imitative,
- impaired,
- injured,
- monotonous,
- moth-eaten,
- musty,
- old hat,
- overused,
- overworked,
- platitudinous,
- played out,
- prosaic,
- ragged,
- run-down,
- scruffy,
- seedy,
- sere,
- set,
- shabby,
- shelfworn,
- shopworn,
- slovenly,
- sorry,
- square,
- stale,
- stereotyped,
- stock,
- tacky,
- tattered,
- tatty,
- tedious,
- timeworn,
- tired,
- tiresome,
- torn,
- trite,
- truistic,
- uncreative,
- unoriginal,
- warmed-over,
- well-known,
- well-worn,
- worn,
- worn out,
- worn ragged,
- worn thin,
- worn to rags,
- worn to threads,
- worn-down,
- worn-out,
- wretched