shibboleths

plural of shibboleth
1
as in slogans
an attention-getting word or phrase used to publicize something (as a campaign or product) we knew that their claim of giving "the best deal in town" was just a shibboleth

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shibboleths
Noun
  • Museums educate citizens, not through slogans, but through context.
    Daniel Fusch, USA Today, 2 Oct. 2025
  • The slogans are simple, intimate, needy, and impossible to avoid.
    Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • New novels are rightly praised for breaking with traditional forms and criticized for turning to stale formulas and cliches.
    Nathaniel Moore September 10, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Just really not going to sit here and give some cliches.
    Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 6 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Those banners were recently removed, replaced with Toronto’s postseason paraphernalia.
    Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
  • Thousands of fans waited for hours in the sun outside the venue, holding signs, banners and balloons — chanting, screaming and hoping to catch a glimpse of the star.
    Rhonda Richford, Footwear News, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Hernández, well acquainted with such platitudes in the years since her husband Jim took his life in a frozen pond, became inspired to write a book about it.
    Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Twin Cities, 28 Sep. 2025
  • But when this team broke camp, their goal was not to speak in glass-half-full platitudes in late September.
    Justice delos Santos, Mercury News, 24 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • This leads to her descent into a vicious vortex narrated with Greek tragedy tropes.
    Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 2 Oct. 2025
  • Even if the plot is slightly predictable, there's no denying the inherent fun in watching a Stranger Things-esque time capsule tackle the genre's most hallmarked tropes with fresh eyes and a solid cast, including Billie Lourd, Leslie Grossman, and Zach Villa.
    James Mercadante, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • There is an outright rejection of bromides that would give us some conclusion of reassurance.
    Richard Newby, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Incidents of such poisoning saw a sharp decline when the Food and Drug Administration phased out the use of bromides in pharmaceuticals between the mid 70s and late 1980s.
    Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Written by Noah Oppenheim, Bigelow’s real-time thriller about the banalities and actualities of a fictional-in-premise-only nuclear attack on the United States is Netflix’s best horse in the race at the Oscars this year.
    Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 19 Sep. 2025
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Shibboleths.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shibboleths. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.

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