as in rustical
tiresomely obvious and unsophisticated
the show's shamelessly cornball jokes appealed to small-town America
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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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cornball
A.a. Dowd, Chron, 7 Feb. 2023
Seemingly the only non-conservative included in the bit was Shri Thanedar, a Democrat and state representative from Michigan, who appeared in a cornball commercial featuring people demonstrating mind-bendingly bad acting.
—oregonlive, 15 Sep. 2022
Denise Martin, Vulture, 2 Feb. 2024
Ivan Reitman’s family comedy is nothing if not cornball.
—EW.com, 2 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for cornball
Adjective
Soderbergh keeps cutting around the cornball potential of the material.
—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 7 Feb. 2023
Seemingly the only non-conservative included in the bit was Shri Thanedar, a Democrat and state representative from Michigan, who appeared in a cornball commercial featuring people demonstrating mind-bendingly bad acting.
—oregonlive, 15 Sep. 2022
Noun
What if there’s a fry-at-home thing to make these cornballs with that you would get horribly burnt on?
—Denise Martin, Vulture, 2 Feb. 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
Noun
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Sorrentino may also be exorcising some conflicting feelings about his birthplace, which is portrayed as a vulgar, crude place populated by crooks and hicks and photographed like its paradise.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
7 Feb. 2025
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In first grade, when a teacher called him a hick, Ciotti threw an inkwell at her.—
D. T. Max,
The New Yorker,
23 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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In a less convincing performance, Guth’s goth staging might quickly start to look hokey.—
Justin Davidson,
Vulture,
30 Apr. 2025
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Mina-Rau, with its floating silos and sweeping fields, just feels much more lived-in and realistic than Snyder’s hokey Veldt.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
23 Apr. 2025
Noun
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In the ‘30s and ‘40s, there were all these clowns trying to sell things, and then there was Krinkles the Clown trying to sell cereal [in the ‘50s].—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
8 May 2025
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Matthew Davies, 41, was taken into custody on suspicion of assaulting a man with a glass bottle while dressed up as a clown on Oct. 31, 2018, according to a news release issued by the department.—
Vincent Moleski,
Sacbee.com,
8 May 2025
Adjective
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This is where the property’s main persona as a wedding venue really shines: Candlelit dinners in the Pavilion—rustic yet romantic with an oversized fireplace as its centerpiece—feel choreographed, in that tables are served course after course at roughly the same time.—
Alisha Prakash,
Travel + Leisure,
11 May 2025
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These pier mount lights have a bit of rustic appeal, taking notes from the original design of barn lights (plus, comes with a compatible post).—
Blake Bakkila,
Architectural Digest,
29 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The latest scheme is to create a 2.5% business-to-business tax, a tax hidden in the costs of businesses so that those rubes also known as voters may not notice it.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
18 Mar. 2025
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Walsh’s male fantasists—the nameless rubes of Ballyturk, the desperate suitors of Penelope, even the heartbroken father at the center of Grief Is the Thing With Feathers—get to strut and bluster and scream into the wind.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
23 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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What is considered corny in some circles is masterful in others.—
Elana Rabinowitz,
Chicago Tribune,
9 May 2025
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The show itself is a caricature of true crime — the corny narrator, cringe-worthy B-roll, exoticism, and cheesy music.—
John J. Lennon,
Vulture,
30 Apr. 2025
Noun
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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
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Mantle was the voluble hayseed from Oklahoma who could hit anything but was corrupted by the big city, and wound up undone by alcohol and knee injuries.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
21 June 2024
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
Cite this Entry
“Cornball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cornball. Accessed 24 May. 2025.
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