threadbare > define

adjective

• Repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse.
  • usage: "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'"
  • synonyms: banal, commonplace, hackneyed, old-hat, shopworn, stock, timeworn, tired, trite, well-worn
• Having the nap worn away so that the threads show through.
  • usage: "threadbare rugs"

• (a.) Worn to the naked thread; having the nap worn off; threadbare clothes.
• (a.) Fig.: Worn out; as, a threadbare subject; stale topics and threadbare quotations.