as in cliche
an idea or expression that has been used by many people
An op-ed piece that offers nothing but warmed-over chestnuts for solving the city's financial woes.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chestnut
Noun
-
To fall back on one of horror marketing’s favorite cliches, the man has a twisted mind.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
26 June 2025 -
Answers vary from obvious to obscure, some citing culture or clutch performances, while others cling to cliches that this club is turning into truths.—
Chandler Rome,
New York Times,
26 June 2025
Noun
-
His trite bromides are typical of showbiz cretins struggling to appear principled.—
Armond White,
National Review,
28 May 2025
-
The state uses a three-drug protocol of etomidate, rocuronium bromide and potassium acetate.—
James Powel,
USA Today,
2 May 2025
Noun
-
The Giants have one of the least-talented and most expensive offensive lines in the entire NFL There's an old NFL proverb that suggests games are won and lost in the trenches.—
Geoffrey Knox,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 June 2025
-
Nobody plots against anyone, but nobody invokes ancient proverbs, either.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
9 June 2025
Noun
-
Car chases were as reliable a trope as the maverick officer with his own moral code mouthing off to superiors, or the battle-scarred veteran who’s seen it all and just wants to eat donuts and make it to retirement.—
Maris Kreizman,
Rolling Stone,
24 June 2025
-
The Second World War and the Red Scare drove him toward a quasi-mystical visual language, more Marc Chagall than Diego Rivera, that relied on a growing menu of tropes: masks, rubble, blind people, flames.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
24 June 2025
Noun
-
The notion that Trump is the wrong answer to the right question has become something of a truism for liberals.—
Gal Beckerman,
The Atlantic,
23 June 2025
-
With Section 899, Republicans are trying to test the truism about two wrongs not making a right.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
16 June 2025
Noun
-
Starting with fawning platitudes, the relationship between the world's richest man and the world's most powerful man has come to an acrimonious end.—
Dan Perry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 June 2025
-
Too often people send graduates out into the world with platitudes and lofty thoughts.—
Harry Kraemer,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
Noun
-
Over hard hip-hop beats and snarling guitar distortion, Gordon stammered about daily banalities, reframing modern life as a psychological war zone.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
13 June 2025
-
So much of modern football discourse is taken up with banality, immaturity, petty insults, utterly vapid arguments about the size of rival clubs, or fanbases, or the length of trophy droughts.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
18 May 2025
Noun
-
Sunlight, as the saying goes, is the best disinfectant.—
Tom Blakely,
Boston Herald,
27 June 2025
-
The better version of this saying is to iterate fast.—
Abdo Riani,
Forbes.com,
26 June 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Chestnut.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chestnut. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share