Definitions for threadbare
ˈθrɛdˌbɛərthread·bare

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. banal, commonplace, hackneyed, old-hat, shopworn, stock(a), threadbare, timeworn, tired, trite, well-wornadjective

   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'"

2. threadbareadjective

   having the nap worn away so that the threads show through

   "threadbare rugs"

WiktionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. threadbareadjective

   shabby, frayed and worn to an extent that warp threads show

2. threadbareadjective

   wearing clothes of threadbare material

3. threadbareadjective

   banal or clichéd; trite or hackneyed

4. Etymology: thread + bare

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Threadbareadjective

   Etymology: thread and bare.

   1. Deprived of the nap; wore to the naked threads.

   Threadbare coat, and cobbled shoes he ware. Fa. Qu.

   The clothier means to dress the commonwealth, and set a new nap upon it: so he had need; for ’tis threadbare. William Shakespeare.

   Will any freedom here from you be borne,
   Whose cloaths are threadbare, and whose cloaks are torn? John Dryden, Juvenal.

   He walk’d the streets, and wore a threadbare cloak;
   He din’d and supp’d at charge of other folk. Jonathan Swift.

   2. Worn out; trite.

   A hungry lean-fac’d villain,
   A mere anatomy, a mountebank,
   A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller. William Shakespeare.

   Many writers of moral discourses run into stale topicks and threadbare quotations, not handling their subject fully and closely. Jonathan Swift.

   If he understood trade, he would not have mentioned this threadbare and exploded project. Josiah Child, on Trade.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Threadbareadjective

   worn to the naked thread; having the nap worn off; threadbare clothes

2. Threadbareadjective

   fig.: Worn out; as, a threadbare subject; stale topics and threadbare quotations

How to pronounce threadbare?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say threadbare in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of threadbare in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of threadbare in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of threadbare in a Sentence

1. Norman Douglas:

   What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes. Take fifty of our current proverbial sayings-- they are so trite, so threadbare. None the less they embody the concentrated experience of the race, and the man who orders his life according to their teachings cannot be far wrong. Has any man ever attained to inner harmony by pondering the experience of others? Not since the world began! He must pass through fire.

2. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif:

   The U.S. needs to view regional issues more seriously than raise baseless and threadbare allegations against Iran, mr. Kerry should ask U.S. allies where the Islamic State’s arms come from.

3. Scott C. Holstad:

   War is the true Nature of the world, a dog with matted fur lapping eagerly at the bloody Nile, wagging its threadbare tail the entire time.

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