hackneyed

hackneyed
adjective
hack·;neyed ;hak-n;d
Synonyms of hackneyed
: lacking in freshness or originality
hackneyed slogans

Did you know?
Does hackney come from the name of an English town?

In his 1926 tome A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, lexicographer H. W. Fowler offers a good deal of advice under the heading “Hackneyed Phrases.” While some of the phrases he cautions against (“too funny for words,” “my better half”) will be familiar to most readers today, others (such as “hinc illae lacrimae”) have mostly fallen into obscurity. Fowler was not the first usage writer to warn against the overuse of hackneyed (that is, trite or clich;d) phrases; a number of authors in the late 19th and early 20th century had similarly (hackneyed phrase alert) taken up the cudgels against trite and banal turns of phrase. In 1897, for example, Frederic Lawrence Knowles advised against using “agitate the tintinnabulatory,” and in 1917 Margaret Ashmun and Gerhard Lomer discouraged “the dreamy mazes of the waltz.” Were these hackneyed phrases so objected to that they became obsolete? This is unlikely, as the same manuals which object to long-dead expressions also object to “blushing bride,” “bated breath,” and “one fell swoop,” all of which have survived. Perhaps a more plausible explanation is that phrases come and go with time. This is, in a way, a pleasant explanation, for it means that the seemingly ubiquitous phrase you detest stands a fair chance of, ahem, falling by the wayside. Only time will tell, as they say.

Synonyms
banal
clich;
cliche
clich;d
cobwebby
commonplace
hack
hackney
moth-eaten
musty
obligatory
shopworn
stale
stereotyped
threadbare
timeworn
tired
trite
well-worn
Choose the Right Synonym for hackneyed

trite, hackneyed, stereotyped, threadbare mean lacking the freshness that evokes attention or interest.

trite applies to a once effective phrase or idea spoiled from long familiarity.

"you win some, you lose some" is a trite expression
hackneyed stresses being worn out by overuse so as to become dull and meaningless.

all of the metaphors and images in the poem are hackneyed
stereotyped implies falling invariably into the same pattern or form.

views of minorities that are stereotyped and out-of-date
threadbare applies to what has been used until its possibilities of interest have been totally exhausted.

a mystery novel with a threadbare plot
Examples of hackneyed in a Sentence
it's hackneyed, but true—the more you save the more you earn
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But the hackneyed drama hasn’t mustered much enthusiasm from critics or moviegoers, and was unsurprisingly overlooked in the Globes’ best drama category.
—Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 9 Dec. 2024
Revelations that are supposed to be moving and heartfelt feel hackneyed and clich;d, and it’s not helped by Shyamalan’s amateurish performance.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2024
Wan bodies the haunted house subgenre here, creating an immersive atmosphere grounded in masterful storytelling and a scrupulous '70s mise-en-sc;ne, one that earns all of its scares by avoiding hackneyed stunts and over-the-top theatrics.
—Danny Horn, James Mercadante, Ilana Gordon, EW.com, 31 July 2024
Any positive lesson here is lost in all the hackneyed jokes, and by the end the movie falls apart entirely.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 4 May 2024
Word History
Etymology
from past participle of hackney entry 3

First Known Use
1735, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hackneyed was in 1735
See more words from the same year
Articles Related to hackneyed
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Hackneyed Phrases, Both Old and New

Word Matters, episode 98

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Hackneyed Phrases of Yore

You may not know them, but they were once considered quite overused


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Dictionary Entries Near hackneyed
hackney coach

hackneyed

hackneyman

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“Hackneyed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hackneyed. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.

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Kids Definition
hackneyed

adjective
hack·;neyed ;hak-n;d
: worn out from too much use : commonplace
a hackneyed expression

More from Merriam-Webster on hackneyed
Nglish: Translation of hackneyed for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: 15 Jan 2025 - Updated Did you know?
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