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- Dictionaryhackneyed/ˈhaknɪd/
adjective
- 1. (of a phrase or idea) having been overused; unoriginal and trite: "hackneyed old sayings"
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The meaning of HACKNEYED is lacking in freshness or originality. How to use hackneyed in a sentence. Does hackney come from the name of an English town? Synonym Discussion of Hackneyed.
HACKNEYED definition: 1. A hackneyed phrase or idea has been said or used so often that it has become boring and has no…. Learn more.
hackneyed. If you describe something such as a saying or an image as hackneyed, you think it is no longer likely to interest, amuse, or affect people because it has been used, seen, or heard many times before. Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts. That's the old hackneyed phrase, but it's true.
hackneyed. adjective. disapproving us / ˈhæk.nid / uk / ˈhæk.nid /. Add to word list. A hackneyed phrase or idea has been said or used so often that it has become boring and has no meaning: The plot of the movie is just a hackneyed boy-meets-girl scenario. Synonyms. clichéd.
Hackneyed is usually used to describe tired writing, but you can also refer to the hackneyed plots of television sit-coms or the hackneyed jokes of your Uncle Fred. But, most often, you will see hackneyed before the word phrase to refer to a specific cliché that is annoying the heck out of someone.
hackneyed - repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse; "bromidic sermons"; "his remarks were trite and commonplace"; "hackneyed phrases"; "a stock answer"; "repeating threadbare jokes"; "parroting some timeworn axiom"; "the trite metaphor `hard as nails'".
There are four meanings listed in OED's entry for the adjective hackneyed, two of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
