1
as in cliche
used or heard so often as to be dull
viewers were bored by the stale story lines of the new crop of sitcoms
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in boring
causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest
the sequel is basically a stale remake of the first movie
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of stale
These simple additions add depth and replayability that keep the hacking and slashing from getting stale.
—
Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 25 Aug. 2025
While the team has been competitive under his leadership, his optimistic attitude is getting stale to fans who expect more.
—Aaliyan Mohammed, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Aug. 2025
What does the future hold when AI uses stale or bogus information to generate an answer?
—Tim Carter, Hartford Courant, 16 Aug. 2025
Goldie now thought that watching for owls and high-kicking with her shadow were the stale amusements of childhood.
—Annie Proulx, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stale
Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 25 Aug. 2025
While the team has been competitive under his leadership, his optimistic attitude is getting stale to fans who expect more.
—Aaliyan Mohammed, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Aug. 2025
What does the future hold when AI uses stale or bogus information to generate an answer?
—Tim Carter, Hartford Courant, 16 Aug. 2025
Goldie now thought that watching for owls and high-kicking with her shadow were the stale amusements of childhood.
—Annie Proulx, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stale
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stale
Adjective
-
Farming takes so long and is so boring, some of us said.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Sep. 2025
-
The Clark County Fire Department said that tunnel boring operations had been temporarily halted at the site pending an ongoing accident investigation.—
Jessica Mathews,
Fortune,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Several leaders described the pressure of being both highly visible and easily stereotyped.—
Benjamin Laker,
Forbes.com,
13 May 2025
-
At the time, Latinos were often cast in stereotyped roles with heavy accents and largely denied the opportunity to direct features.—
Maximilíano Durón,
ARTnews.com,
17 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Smith replied that private schools must submit renewal packets every year before they are approved to continue participation in the accounts program, and that the agency compares the new tuition rates against the older rates.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
12 Sep. 2025
-
The reversal marks just one example of how Trump is rewriting Republicans’ decades-old playbook on countering Beijing’s influence in the United States and abroad.—
Christian Datoc,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Reed got her first gig at Cataloochee at the age of 19 in 1996 and has never tired of the work.—
Tara Massouleh McCay,
Southern Living,
14 Sep. 2025
-
Manning’s inefficiency was on full display, and the Longhorns faithful grew tired of it during the first half.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
14 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Without a strict hierarchy or single decision-maker, our process can sometimes be slow, messy, or even tiring.—
Caterina De Biasio,
Vogue,
11 Sep. 2025
-
The film is a mess, opaque in its argument and tiring in its effortful weirdness, and yet in its best moments has a hypnotic pull.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Trauma is not a hackneyed literary trope in the work of Miriam Toews.—
Lorrie Moore,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Sep. 2025
-
Similarly, the billionaire-villain forgery subplot and the insertion of romance into team dynamics came across as forced, hackneyed and unnecessary.—
Karl Moore,
Forbes.com,
3 July 2025
Adjective
-
While Schneider was expressing his feelings about the unknown state of Judge’s normally rocket arm, the Yankees seemed weary about answering these kind of inquiries.—
Larry Fleisher,
Forbes.com,
7 Sep. 2025
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Where Shy was the subject of Porter’s slender book — which is really more of a beat-poetry day-in-the-life monologue — the focus shifts here to the weary headmaster who’s been fighting on the students’ behalf all these years.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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During the prelims in Tokyo, Seville had a concerning slow reaction to the starting gun.—
Katelyn Hutchison,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
-
Parisian servers may have an undeserved reputation for being slow, but instead of complaining or searching for faster service elsewhere, settle in with a book or newspaper.—
Lane Nieset,
Travel + Leisure,
14 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Stale.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stale. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
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