as in hokey
tiresomely obvious and unsophisticated
the show's shamelessly cornball jokes appealed to small-town America
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
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 cornball
Dennis Harvey, Variety, 3 Oct. 2024
Another scream for this bad, unabashedly cornball line.
—Evan Minsker, Rolling Stone, 5 Sep. 2024
Jenna West, The Athletic, 9 Aug. 2024
These realist inflections belie a charmingly cornball story.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 12 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for cornball
Adjective
There’s a fair share of cornball dialogue in Cornelius Uliano and Bryan Schulz’s screenplay, as well as an excess of reassuring schmaltz at the fadeout.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 3 Oct. 2024
Another scream for this bad, unabashedly cornball line.
—Evan Minsker, Rolling Stone, 5 Sep. 2024
Noun
Trolling you cornballs for rooting against us is apart of the game.
—Jenna West, The Athletic, 9 Aug. 2024
These realist inflections belie a charmingly cornball story.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 12 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for cornball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cornball
Adjective
-
What ultimately keeps the house from feeling hokey or trite is Glazer’s commitment to her all-encompassing taste.—
Mark Lamster
Architecture Critic,
Dallas Morning News,
10 Feb. 2026
-
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
Noun
-
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
-
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
-
Vista Verde Ranch Clark, Colorado Vista Verde Ranch is all about rustic luxury, and guests are considered part of the family.—
Julie Bielenberg,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2026
-
Upon arrival at the estate, my car was buzzed through the gate guarding a rustic yet modern haven straight out of a storybook.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
When Feld Entertainment unveiled a new edition of the circus with much fanfare in 2023, the only animal in it was a mechanical robot dog and while there was some comedy, traditional circus clowns were not a part of it.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
5 Apr. 2026
-
In Nuremberg,Göring is closer to a sad clown than to a monster.—
Alice Kaplan,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The correlation between the songs and Jim’s life may be corny, but the film clearly presents Morrison’s life as a search for these songs.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
10 Mar. 2026
-
Foligno always skirted the line between earnest and corny, but nobody ever doubted his sincerity.—
Scott Powers,
New York Times,
6 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
All those unsuspecting rubes with no idea what’s about to hit them.—
Joe Hagan,
Vanity Fair,
18 Mar. 2026
-
And yet, to holier-than-thou doctors like young Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson), Howard is a cautionary tale: a glutton who can’t control himself, a rube who hasn’t heard of Ozempic, and a lazy slouch who can’t manage to drag himself to aqua aerobics.—
Marah Eakin,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The Lycra Company has corn-fed stretch.—
Alexandra Harrell,
Footwear News,
2 Apr. 2026
-
On Tuesday, Sasha De Sola, an old pro in the role, danced it with ravishing self-possession, hardly seeming to need the support of her consort Harrison James, who exuded the corn-fed charm of a linebacker while delivering cleanly polished grande pirouettes.—
Rachel Howard,
San Francisco Chronicle,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Using his Hollywood makeup father’s prosthetics, Holliday transforms himself into hayseed-like Chad Powers.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
30 Sep. 2025
-
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 11 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
