cliché — meaning in English

English meaning

• cliché noun A phrase or idea that has been used so often it no longer has any force or freshness.
• platitude noun An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse.

Senses

cliché is used for these senses in English:

• cliché (rhetoric) Something, most often a phrase or expression, that is overused or used outside its original context, so that its original impact and meaning are lost. A trite saying; a platitude. [from 19th c.]
• shibboleth A common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth.

cliché — full definition

1. noun A phrase or idea that has been used so often it no longer has any force or freshness.
2. noun A situation, character or feature so predictable that it feels stale.
3. adjective So overused as to have lost its impact. Often written clichéd.

platitude — full definition

1. noun An often-quoted saying that is supposed to be meaningful but has become unoriginal or hackneyed through overuse.
2. noun A claim that is trivially true, to the point of being uninteresting.
3. noun Flatness; lack of change, activity, or deviation.
4. noun Unoriginality; triteness.

Related Dutch words