threadbare

1 showing signs of advanced wear and tear and neglect bought a threadbare couch at a garage sale Synonyms beat-up, bombed-out, dilapidated, dog-eared, down-at-the-heels (or down-at-heel also down-at-the-heel or down-at-heels), dumpy, grungy, mangy, mean, miserable, moth-eaten, neglected, ratty, run-down, scrubby, scruffy, seedy, sleazy, tacky, tatterdemalion, tatty, shabby, timeworn, tumbledownRelated Words abandoned, uncared-for, unkept; desolate, forlorn, godforsaken; broken-down, decrepit, tired, worn-out; bedraggled, dingy, ragged, tattered; decaying, deteriorated, deteriorating, rackety, ramshackle, rattletrap, rickety, tumbledown; broken, damaged, destroyed, harmed, hurt, impaired, injured, ruined, wreckedNear Antonyms brand-new, fresh, new; cared-for, kept-up, maintained; mended, patched, rebuilt, reconstructed; smart, spiffy, spruce

2 used or heard so often as to be dull a novel filled with nothing but threadbare clichés Synonyms banal, cliché (also cliche), clichéd, cobwebby, commonplace, hack, hackney, hackneyed, moth-eaten, musty, obligatory, shopworn, stereotyped, stale, timeworn, tired, trite, well-wornRelated Words twice-told; bromidic, platitudinal, platitudinous; canned, cardboard, conventional, cookie-cutter, derivative, imitative, ready-made, tried-and-true, unimaginative, uninspired, unoriginal; normal, ordinary, rote, routine, standard, stock, typical, usual; arid, barren, boring, colorless, drab, dreary, drudging, dry, dull, dusty, flat, heavy, ho-hum, humdrum, jading, jejune, leaden, mind-numbing, monotonous, numbing, old, pedantic, pedestrian, ponderous, prosaic, stodgy, stuffy, tame, tedious, tiresome, tiring, undramatic, uninteresting, vapid, wearisome, weary, wearying; old-fashioned, old hatNear Antonyms animating, energizing, enlivening, exciting, galvanizing, invigorating, stimulating; absorbing, engaging, engrossing, gripping, interesting, intriguing, involving, riveting; atypical, extraordinary, strange, unaccustomed, uncommon, unfamiliar, unheard-of, unknown, unprecedented, unusual; pathbreaking, pioneering, trailblazingAntonyms fresh, new, novel, original, unclichéd, unhackneyed

3 worn or torn into or as if into rags I loved that threadbare shirt, but after 10 years of wear, it was time to throw it away Synonyms frayed, raggedy, ratty, seedy, shabby, tattered, ragged, worn-outRelated Words dowdy, scruffy, tatterdemalion; dingy, faded; lacerate (or lacerated), shredded; holey, patchy; broken-down, decrepit, dilapidated, dog-eared, grungy, mangy, moth-eaten, run-down, scuzzy [slang], tackyNear Antonyms brand-new, new, spick-and-span (or spic-and-span), unused

4 lacking money or material possessions never knew that she had so many threadbare relatives until she won the lottery Synonyms beggared, beggarly, broke, destitute, dirt-poor, down-and-out, famished, hard up, impecunious, impoverished, indigent, necessitous, needful, needy, pauperized, penniless, penurious, poverty-stricken, skint [chiefly British], poorRelated Words deprived, disadvantaged, dispossessed, unaffluent, underprivileged; bankrupt, bankrupted, bust (or busted), insolvent; possessionless, ruined; depressed, distressed, hand-to-mouth, hardscrabble, pinched, poorish, reduced, straitened; cash-strapped, low, short, tapped outNear Antonyms comfortable, prosperousAntonyms affluent, deep-pocketed, fat, fat-cat, flush, moneyed (also monied), opulent, rich, silk-stocking, wealthy, well-heeled, well-off, well-to-do