cliché 1 of 2

variants also cliche
Definition of clichénext

cliché

2 of 2

noun

variants also cliche

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of cliché
Noun
Hedda’s romantic picture — of Lovborg dying magnificently, with Dionysian vine leaves in his hairs, from a bullet of one of her own guns — smacks of the same literary cliches that has Emma fantasizing about a torchlight wedding at midnight. Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2026 Lines can be set for how many political cliches Trump uses, the number of interruptions from the audience, the total times a person is shown on camera, etc. James Powel, USA Today, 24 Feb. 2026 Haleakala National Park, Hawaii Is fleeing to Hawaii to escape winter a cliche? Graham Averill, Outside, 23 Feb. 2026 His voice waxed poetic about Louisiana and its beauty while also critiquing the cliches rendered as the only acceptable terms to discuss a place that exceeds description. Literary Hub, 20 Feb. 2026 What sports or politics cliche resonates the most with you? Dominick Mastrangelo, The Hill, 16 Feb. 2026 There is an old cliche about the difficulty of coaching national teams in football. The Athletic Staff, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2026 The Western is sort of stoked with a forge full of cliches. Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 12 Feb. 2026 Right-hander James Karinchak There’s a tired baseball cliche likening upside plays to lottery tickets. Gabriel Burns, AJC.com, 9 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cliché
Adjective
  • Kelly Enders-Tharp, a three-time surrogate and education and experience specialist at Growing Generations, explains that surrogates are often stereotyped, or that their backgrounds are misrepresented.
    Kris Ann Valdez, Parents, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Later, Lenape artist Joe Baker places cutout photographs of his ancestors over the stereotyped images of Native Americans found in the wallpaper.
    Tom McDonough, Artforum, 1 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • In testing, the model showed stronger robustness to noise and better generalization across different facial shapes compared to conventional approaches.
    Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Meanwhile, recent advancements in multimodal AI (models that can process multiple types of information, like visual and audio at once) are improving robots’ generalization capabilities for everyday tasks.
    Eric Schmidt, Time, 3 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Simmons said Tarrant families are tired of O’Hare’s bullying, silencing and antics.
    Rachel Royster March 5, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Mar. 2026
  • His poor metrics are the result of the Panthers looking tired and worn down in front of him, and Bobrovsky not being consistently at his absolute best.
    Jesse Granger, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • Li shook hands with Whitmarsh and exchanged platitudes with the other guests.
    Chang Che, New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2026
  • The gap between $0 and $600 million makes his observation harder to dismiss as a platitude.
    Ryan Brennan March 3, Charlotte Observer, 3 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Few parents can follow the hackneyed wisdom of living in the moment.
    Yiyun Li, New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2026
  • But the movie drifts into hackneyed melodrama that sits awkwardly against the gritty canvas of terrorist incidents, sniper attacks, bombings and police checkpoints.
    David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 12 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • The play isn’t subtle; the final sequence leans hard on truisms about addiction and trauma, which are affecting but overly explicit.
    Sheldon Pearce, New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2026
  • One of the truisms in the past for Team Canada at some best-on-best events is needing a few games to find its game.
    Pierre LeBrun, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • Sure, Gyeong-nam is outwardly stoic and hard to read, but his tsundere trajectory and the office romance setting of his romance with Mi-rae are their own polished tropes.
    Kayti Burt, Time, 6 Mar. 2026
  • Blood Meridian throws out the Western trope of good versus evil in favor of a nihilist view of a world consumed by violence.
    Carolina A. Miranda, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • If frictionless facial recognition becomes commonplace, theoretically, ICE is vulnerable to the technology as well.
    Sarah Jeong, The Verge, 1 Mar. 2026
  • In the one-reel short — which features only one single camera set-up, as was commonplace at the time — Méliès plays a magician who winds up an automaton dressed as the clown Pierrot.
    Eric Henderson, CBS News, 27 Feb. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Cliché.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clich%C3%A9. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.

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