as in hokey
tiresomely obvious and unsophisticated
the show's shamelessly cornball jokes appealed to small-town America
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in hick
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
a movie about a cornball making his way through a world of cynical sophisticates
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cornball
Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2023
Soderbergh keeps cutting around the cornball potential of the material.
—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 7 Feb. 2023
Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 12 July 2024
Ivan Reitman’s family comedy is nothing if not cornball.
—EW.com, 2 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for cornball
Adjective
Magic acts and cornball humor remained staples.
—Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2023
Soderbergh keeps cutting around the cornball potential of the material.
—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 7 Feb. 2023
Noun
These realist inflections belie a charmingly cornball story.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 12 July 2024
Ivan Reitman’s family comedy is nothing if not cornball.
—EW.com, 2 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for cornball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cornball
Adjective
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With no internet, their only entertainment comes from booze, ping-pong, rudimentary video games, and VHS tapes of hokey old game shows.—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
21 Nov. 2025
-
After an awesomely hokey prologue that deprives Det.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Which is to say, this isn’t the story of a greedy, materialistic man who suffers a crisis of conscience while trying to pry a priceless treasure away from an uneducated hick who doesn’t know any better.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
29 Oct. 2025
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Ricky develops romantic feelings for Chad even though Russ plays him as a soft-spoken, possibly dim rural hick who may well be a literal man-child.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Some 127 years after its opening, the grande dame of St Moritz continues to draw glamorous guests to its cavernous halls, forever teetering gracefully between Alpine rustic and positively regal.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
7 Feb. 2026
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His favorite spots for lunch include Manjar Blanco, a casual farm-to-table restaurant known for its tacos, and Pancho Maíz, which specializes in rustic corn dishes.—
April Long,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Deep cherry red, black, and white come together to create a whimsical world of dice, cards, sad clowns, and a ticking pocketwatch.—
Samantha Brash,
InStyle,
8 Feb. 2026
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These clowns don't even have the courage of their pathetic White supremacist convictions.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The novel also suggests—mumblingly, without making eye contact, not wanting to be corny about it—that one’s own self becomes a little less hideous the more one attends to other selves.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
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The novel also suggests—mumblingly, without making eye contact, not wanting to be corny about it—that one’s own self becomes a little less hideous the more one attends to other selves.—
Hermione Hoby,
New Yorker,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Harry would be right to be bitter; Sally’s optimism was for rubes.—
Alexandra Schwartz,
New Yorker,
17 Dec. 2025
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As for partisan rubes like Senator Van Hollen, Maryland can do better.—
Chris Roemer,
Baltimore Sun,
26 June 2025
Adjective
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Cattle—even corn-fed ones—tend to spend much of their life on pasture eating grass, which leads to a lot of methane burps, but growing that grass is not carbon intensive.—
Sarah Zhang,
The Atlantic,
8 Jan. 2025
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Never underestimate a corn-fed basic from Hockeytown.—
Meredith Blake,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2023
Noun
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Using his Hollywood makeup father’s prosthetics, Holliday transforms himself into hayseed-like Chad Powers.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
30 Sep. 2025
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Baby Billy’s first full-frontal scene is more a testament to Walton Goggins’s incredible hayseed bravado in the rule.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
31 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cornball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cornball. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
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