as in stereotyped
used or heard so often as to be dull
it's hackneyed, but true—the more you save the more you earn
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in exhausted
to use so much as to make less appealing
advertisers have hackneyed the word "revolutionary" so much that it now just means that a product is new
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hackneyed
Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Trauma is not a hackneyed literary trope in the work of Miriam Toews.
—Lorrie Moore, The New York Review of Books, 4 Sep. 2025
Writer-director James Agnew’s hackneyed action-thriller is woefully short on action and thrills, and generic enough to suggest it was scripted by AI.
—Joe Leydon, Variety, 27 June 2025
This hackneyed stance has turned his concert performances shrill and hollow.
—Armond White, National Review, 28 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hackneyed
Adjective
The story revolves around this character in ways that feel hackneyed and forced.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for hackneyed
Adjective
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Later, Lenape artist Joe Baker places cutout photographs of his ancestors over the stereotyped images of Native Americans found in the wallpaper.—
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Several leaders described the pressure of being both highly visible and easily stereotyped.—
Verb
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The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is not the primary custodian of police or court records and is often asked to assist only after survivors and attorneys have exhausted other avenues.—
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Advertisement Venezuelans are exhausted after 26 years of Chavismo.—
Adjective
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That includes fewer tired drivers on overnight routes, more predictable freight movement and potentially safer highways over time.—
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The tired hosts will be delighted.—
Adjective
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Contrary to rumors of mass protests, the gathering of citizens (a commonplace sight at crucial legislative periods), was unobtrusive and orderly.—
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Bodyboarders and surfers haven’t historically gotten along, especially in the ’80s, when conflicts in the water were commonplace.—
Verb
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Gregg agrees that gray has been overused as a whole.—
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Their answers, unsurprisingly, skew toward once-trending hues that now feel tired and overused.—
Adjective
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To Stewart, the summary feels trite.—
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Clown in a Cornfield may lean into its YA novel background; by the end, even the trite love triangle gets a welcome subversion.—
Verb
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That December, the subway was moving along channels that had been bored much earlier.—
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These days, the aviary houses parakeets that are mostly rejects from friends whose kids got bored with them.—
Verb
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Only a few years after her 21st birthday extravaganza, Paris Hilton had been overexposed.—
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Film, even if it’s overexposed, underexposed, or correctly exposed, has a unique quality to it.—
Cite this Entry
“Hackneyed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hackneyed. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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