stale

1 of 4

adjective

staler; stalest
1
: tasteless or unpalatable from age
stale bread
2
: tedious from familiarity
a stale routine
3
: impaired in legal force or effect by reason of being allowed to rest without timely use, action, or demand
a stale affidavit
a stale debt
4
: impaired in vigor or effectiveness
stalely adverb
staleness noun

stale

2 of 4

verb (1)

staled; staling

transitive verb

1
: to make stale
2
archaic : to make common : cheapen

intransitive verb

: to become stale

stale

3 of 4

verb (2)

staled; staling

intransitive verb

: urinate
used chiefly of camels and horses

stale

4 of 4

noun

: urine of a domestic animal (such as a horse)

Examples of stale in a Sentence

Adjective a room filled with stale smoke viewers were bored by the stale story lines of the new crop of sitcoms
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
With a bit more effort and focus, your white paper can go from pale and stale to bringing in the green. April Rudin, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 Sooner or later, every type of advertising gets stale. Kate Lindsay, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2024 The script is confusing, the action stale and the visual effects cheap. Peter Debruge, Variety, 13 Feb. 2024 The Aquarius New Moon on February 9 is as good an opportunity as any to push the reset button before things intensify later in the month, and to free yourself from habitual dynamics that have grown stale. Steph Koyfman, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Jan. 2024 The ride-share industry has been a little stale in terms of innovation. Phil Wahba, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024 Now, Deadpool’s self-aware, meta humor gives Disney a great opportunity to freshen up their stale MCU formula and simplify the mess, with Deadpool tasked with cleaning the timelines. Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024 None of this is to say that winning will become stale. Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press, 24 Jan. 2024 Golden State’s one-time frenetic offense looks slow and stale. Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 10 Jan. 2024
Verb
Stone Fruit Brown Betty Got summer fruit and a few slices of staling sandwich bread? Rita Dove, Bon Appétit, 8 Aug. 2023 Blinkie’s Donut Emporium, owned by a Cambodian American father-daughter duo, offers handmade donuts daily, always closing at noon so their selection never stales. Theo Stroomer, National Geographic, 5 June 2019 The product has staled compared to the previous standards. Mac Engel, star-telegram, 27 Jan. 2018 Set collection is a particularly satisfying mechanism but one that stales easily; Fabled Fruit tweaks the formula in every game to bypass that problem. Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, 24 Nov. 2017 Petty theft, Clifton Boulevard: Police were called to CVS Pharmacy about 2 a.m. Oct. 12 on a report of a man staling body wash items and leaving in a car. Bruce Geiselman, cleveland.com, 22 Oct. 2017 While the bread is staling, combine blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, sugar and lemon juice in a large saucepan over low heat. Robin Mather, Detroit Free Press, 8 July 2017 Time may have withered her, to misquote Shakespeare, but custom will never stale this mother’s infinite, and exasperating, variety. Ben Brantley, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2016
Verb
Blinkie’s Donut Emporium, owned by a Cambodian American father-daughter duo, offers handmade donuts daily, always closing at noon so their selection never stales. Theo Stroomer, National Geographic, 5 June 2019 The product has staled compared to the previous standards. Mac Engel, star-telegram, 27 Jan. 2018 Set collection is a particularly satisfying mechanism but one that stales easily; Fabled Fruit tweaks the formula in every game to bypass that problem. Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, 24 Nov. 2017 Petty theft, Clifton Boulevard: Police were called to CVS Pharmacy about 2 a.m. Oct. 12 on a report of a man staling body wash items and leaving in a car. Bruce Geiselman, cleveland.com, 22 Oct. 2017
Noun
One trait of stale and out-of-touch leadership teams is a disconnect between seniority levels. Yec, Forbes, 24 Jan. 2023 Is the information being presented by the F.B.I. to the court stale? Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2022 But Vikings players and fans ask: How exactly will this 2022 outfit differ from its previous edition that some called stale and insufficiently aggressive? Jori Epstein, USA TODAY, 1 June 2022 That would be almond croissants, in which a nut paste is spread and baked into stale or day-old pastries. Washington Post, 20 Dec. 2021 Danielle escapes to the buffet to finger stale-looking pastries, sandwiches filled with mayonnaise-y salads, gloopy pasta. Jocelyn Silver, Vogue, 2 Apr. 2021 The first bite crunched into the burger’s onion rings and thick pretzel bun, which was a cut above Wendy’s usual signature, stale-to-the-touch buns. Phillip Valys, sun-sentinel.com, 10 Nov. 2020 As the supply of equities shrinks, developed nations from the U.S. to Japan are turning stale. Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2019 Did McCarthy’s offense get stale in Green Bay at the end? Dallas News, 14 Jan. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stale.' 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

Adjective

Middle English, settled, clear (of ale), not fresh, from Anglo-French estale, probably from Middle Dutch stel old (of beer)

Verb (2)

Middle English; akin to Middle Low German stallen to urinate, stal urine of horses

First Known Use

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (1)

1599, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Verb (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1548, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of stale was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near stale

Cite this Entry

“Stale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stale. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

stale

1 of 2 adjective
staler; stalest
1
: having lost a good taste or quality from age
stale food
2
: used or heard so often as to be dull
stale news
3
: not so strong, effective, or energetic as before
felt stale from lack of exercise
stalely adverb
staleness noun

stale

2 of 2 verb
staled; staling
: to make or become stale

Legal Definition

stale

adjective
: impaired in legal effect or force by reason of not being used, acted upon, or demanded in a timely fashion
a search warrant based on stale information
a stale claim

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