adj

stale

stayl

adj

No longer fresh; dried out or gone off, especially food or drink.

"The bread had gone stale after sitting out overnight."

"He complained that the office coffee always tasted stale by noon."

No longer fresh or interesting; overused, clichéd, or dated.

"The comedian's jokes felt stale after the tenth show of the tour."

"Their marketing pitch was full of stale slogans nobody believed anymore."

verb

To become, or make, stale; to lose freshness or interest.

"The routine staled after months of repeating the same act every night."

How to Use Stale

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishPast its best — food that has dried out, or an idea, joke, or routine that has been repeated too many times.

Common mistake

Mostly used for food and ideas; for people worn out from overtraining or overwork, "stale" is also used but is less common outside sport (a "stale athlete").

Common pairings

stale bread stale joke grow stale stale air

Word Forms

staler comparative, staled past tense, staled past tense, staled past tense, staled past tense, staled past tense, stales plural, stales plural, stales plural, stales plural, stales singular, stales singular, stales singular, stales singular, stales singular, stalest superlative

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Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

The bread had gone _____ after sitting out overnight.

Synonyms

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handle haft helve shaft snath the shaft of a scythe stem

Antonyms

fresh

Related Words

new stem fresh drunk feel spoilt penis old

Rhymes for stale

ale male sale pale gale tale kale vale dale Yale bale hale

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