as in cliche
an idea or expression that has been used by many people the play's dialogue featured all of the groaners that seem to be de rigueur for any dysfunctional-family drama

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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 groaner Che laughs about four groaners in a row, looking around sheepishly. Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 15 Dec. 2024 The only possible groaner, a joke about school shootings, clearly worked with the improv audience but, Wood reasoned, needed to come later in Saturday’s set, once the audience had grown to trust him a bit. Wesley Lowery, Washington Post, 1 May 2023 Evidently the authors — and the director, Jack O’Brien — meant to glue the show together with groaners, a gutsy if not entirely successful move. Jesse Green, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2023 The pointillistic eclecticism of @NYT_first_said does tend to highlight the linguistic extremes—the novelties and the gags and the groaners. Max Norman, The New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2023 There's already been some on-track action, but the first big groaner for the GTP class happens to BMW, when the No. 25 car comes to a halt on the track, sort of half in, half out of the exit. Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 30 Jan. 2023 White’s favorite joke is an all-time groaner. Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 13 Dec. 2021 The premise for this TV One comedy is a groaner: A woman who followed in the footsteps of her mother and had a child at 16 will go to silly lengths to keep her 16-year-old daughter from doing the same. Dawn Burkes, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for groaner
Noun
  • Awarded a second-half penalty against Bremen, Patrik Schick and Exequiel Palacios squabbled over who should take it, in a cliche of team dysfunction.
    Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, New York Times, 2 Sep. 2025
  • Of course, some cliches are nothing but lazy thinking.
    Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 30 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Aside from fake dating, the novel is full of beloved, albeit cheesy, rom-com tropes.
    Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Punishing yet satisfying combat In reliable fashion, Art of Vengeance makes use of dozens of storytelling tropes from across ninja media.
    Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 3 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • There is a truism that a good place to live is a good place to visit—and that relationship often creates a virtuous cycle of development.
    Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Aug. 2025
  • The 2025 session put a bit of a wrinkle in that truism.
    John C. Moritz, Austin American Statesman, 30 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Groaner.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groaner. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

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