hackneyed

adjective

hack·​neyed ˈhak-nēd How to pronounce hackneyed (audio)
: lacking in freshness or originality
hackneyed slogans

Did you know?

Does hackney come from the name of an English town?

Hackney entered the English language in the 14th century as a noun. Some think perhaps it came from "Hakeneye" (now "Hackney"), the name of a town (now a borough) in England. Others dispute this explanation, pointing to similar forms in other European languages. The noun "hackney," in any case, refers to a horse suitable for ordinary riding or driving-as opposed to one used as a draft animal or a war charger. When "hackney" was first used as a verb in the late 16th century, it often meant "to make common or frequent use of." Later, it meant "to make trite, vulgar, or commonplace." The adjective "hackneyed" began to be used in the 18th century and now is a common synonym for "trite."

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views of minorities that are stereotyped and out-of-date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 The show's cringing-while-laughing setup would be too much for some viewers — but many others found watching the gang guessing ethnicities written on index cards taped to their foreheads to be a welcome change to the hackneyed humor of the contemporary sitcom landscape. Erin Strecker, EW.com, 21 Feb. 2024 Flat-footed contrivances, compounded by hackneyed humor and stereotypical targets, contribute to the sense that the play is always a beat behind. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2024 Christian Carion’s seventh feature steers clear of hackneyed tropes, alternating between jarring flashbacks of Madeleine’s hard domestic younger years and those intimate conversations between this unlikely duo who form a bond as the day shifts into night. Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 17 Jan. 2024 Biden made much in his hackneyed speech — it probably could have been written by a precocious eighth grader in an AP government class — of a painting in the U.S. Capitol of George Washington resigning his commission. Rich Lowry, National Review, 8 Jan. 2024 But in the end, this is still a stereotypical superhero comic story, with all the hackneyed, overwrought presentation that can imply. Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 17 Oct. 2023 Why not grasp beyond the hackneyed hope of detecting fragments of parchments in ancient monasteries and caves? Cynthia Ozick, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023 But Norman’s dramatic maneuverings are more hackneyed than Burnett’s. Charles McNultytheater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2023 On Broadway, the show found the perfect leads in Beth Leavel and Brooks Ashmanskas to bring the Broadway excesses of Dee Dee and Barry to non-hackneyed life. Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hackneyed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

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Dictionary Entries Near hackneyed

Cite this Entry

“Hackneyed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hackneyed. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

hackneyed

adjective
hack·​neyed ˈhak-nēd How to pronounce hackneyed (audio)
: worn out from too much use : commonplace
a hackneyed expression

More from Merriam-Webster on hackneyed

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