Definition of shopworn
1 : faded, soiled, or otherwise impaired by remaining too long in a store
2 : stale from excessive use or familiarity shopworn clichés
3 : worn-out a shopworn veteran
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Examples of shopworn in a Sentence
the shopworn suggestion to job applicants to “just be yourself”
Recent Examples of shopworn from the Web
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The novel makes too much use of shopworn archetypes—a seductive housekeeper, a self-sacrificing prostitute—but Altan deftly pushes the tropes of detective fiction into existentialist territory.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'shopworn'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
1838
First Known Use of shopworn
1838
SHOPWORN Defined for English Language Learners
shopworn
playDefinition of shopworn for English Language Learners
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: faded or damaged from being in a shop or store for too long
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: not interesting because of being used too often
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