as in cliche
an idea or expression that has been used by many people
the play's dialogue featured all of the groaners that seem to be de rigueur for any dysfunctional-family drama
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Recent Examples of groaner
Che laughs about four groaners in a row, looking around sheepishly.
—
Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 15 Dec. 2024
The only possible groaner, a joke about school shootings, clearly worked with the improv audience but, Wood reasoned, needed to come later in Saturday’s set, once the audience had grown to trust him a bit.
—Wesley Lowery, Washington Post, 1 May 2023
Evidently the authors — and the director, Jack O’Brien — meant to glue the show together with groaners, a gutsy if not entirely successful move.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2023
The pointillistic eclecticism of @NYT_first_said does tend to highlight the linguistic extremes—the novelties and the gags and the groaners.
—Max Norman, The New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2023
There's already been some on-track action, but the first big groaner for the GTP class happens to BMW, when the No. 25 car comes to a halt on the track, sort of half in, half out of the exit.
—Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 30 Jan. 2023
White’s favorite joke is an all-time groaner.
—Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 13 Dec. 2021
The premise for this TV One comedy is a groaner: A woman who followed in the footsteps of her mother and had a child at 16 will go to silly lengths to keep her 16-year-old daughter from doing the same.
—Dawn Burkes, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2021
Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 15 Dec. 2024
The only possible groaner, a joke about school shootings, clearly worked with the improv audience but, Wood reasoned, needed to come later in Saturday’s set, once the audience had grown to trust him a bit.
—Wesley Lowery, Washington Post, 1 May 2023
Evidently the authors — and the director, Jack O’Brien — meant to glue the show together with groaners, a gutsy if not entirely successful move.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2023
The pointillistic eclecticism of @NYT_first_said does tend to highlight the linguistic extremes—the novelties and the gags and the groaners.
—Max Norman, The New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2023
There's already been some on-track action, but the first big groaner for the GTP class happens to BMW, when the No. 25 car comes to a halt on the track, sort of half in, half out of the exit.
—Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 30 Jan. 2023
White’s favorite joke is an all-time groaner.
—Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 13 Dec. 2021
The premise for this TV One comedy is a groaner: A woman who followed in the footsteps of her mother and had a child at 16 will go to silly lengths to keep her 16-year-old daughter from doing the same.
—Dawn Burkes, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for groaner
Noun
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New novels are rightly praised for breaking with traditional forms and criticized for turning to stale formulas and cliches.—
Nathaniel Moore
September 10,
Literary Hub,
10 Sep. 2025
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Just really not going to sit here and give some cliches.—
Bill Plunkett,
Oc Register,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
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While not specifically speculative fiction, the nonfiction narratives that students both read and produce serve as counter-narratives to the oppressive and harmful tropes in media more generally about Black girls and girlhood.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
10 Sep. 2025
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His jubilation that a serial killer might be loose in town is a familiar, and perhaps accurate, journalistic trope—bad for the world; good for the media—but not one that reflects well on the profession.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
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That truism apparently extends to Switch modders as well, at least in the case of Ryan Daly.—
Kyle Orland,
ArsTechnica,
9 Sep. 2025
-
There is a truism that a good place to live is a good place to visit—and that relationship often creates a virtuous cycle of development.—
Jasmine Laws,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Groaner.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groaner. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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