cliche

IPA/ˈkliːʃeɪ/
KK[kliʃˈe]IPA/kliːˈʃeɪ/

cliche — noun

  • clichesingular
  • clichesplural

1. A phrase or idea repeated so often by so many people that it now sounds empty an

1.nounB2
Definition

A phrase or idea repeated so often by so many people that it now sounds empty and uninteresting.

Example

Wren opened her speech with a cliché about chasing dreams, and the audience sighed.

Asher's coach brought out the oldest cliché in sport: 'there is no I in team.'

collocation: oldest cliché

Common collocations
  • tired cliché
  • old cliché
  • overused cliché
  • avoid a cliché
  • cliché about
  • full of clichés
  • spouting clichés
  • resort to clichés
  • empty cliché
Synonyms
  • platitude

    a dull, moralising remark presented as if it were wise; narrower than cliché in tone and purpose

  • banality

    a remark so ordinary and flat that it feels meaningless; emphasises dullness rather than repetition

  • truism

    a statement so obviously true that saying it adds nothing; neutral in judgment

Antonyms
  • originality

    the quality of being fresh and inventive in what you say or write

Grammar Patterns

cliché + about + topic

it is a cliché that + clause

old + cliché

tired + cliché

Usage Note

Also spelled cliché (with an acute accent on the e). Both spellings are widely accepted, though cliché reflects the original French more closely. Countable when referring to a specific overused phrase ('a cliché about love'); uncountable when referring to the general quality of using such language ('His writing is full of cliché').

Common Mistakes

That saying is so true — it is not a cliché.
That saying may be true, but it is still a cliché because everyone says it.
a cliché can be factually correct; the problem is the loss of impact from overuse, not falsehood.

2. Something — a situation, person, or object — that feels tired and boring because

2.nounB2
Definition

Something — a situation, person, or object — that feels tired and boring because the same pattern has been seen too many times before.

Example

Constanza groaned — the villain's tragic backstory was a cliché she had seen before.

collocation: a cliché she had seen before

Aylin worried her startup idea sounded like a cliché — two friends in a garage.

collocation: sound like a cliché

Common collocations
  • become a cliché
  • seem like a cliché
  • turn into a cliché
  • something of a cliché
  • reduce to a cliché
  • a tired cliché
Synonyms
  • stereotype

    a fixed, oversimplified image of a group of people; more social and less about repetition fatigue

  • trope

    a common narrative device; neutral or analytical, unlike cliché which is always critical

  • commonplace

    an ordinary thing or event; carries no negative judgment about originality

Antonyms
  • original

    someone or something fresh and unlike anything that has come before

Grammar Patterns

become + a cliché

sound like + a cliché

turn + noun + into a cliché

something of a cliché

Usage Note

Frequently used in patterns like 'become a cliché' and 'sound like a cliché.' Subject is typically a plot device, character type, or social situation rather than a concrete physical object. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense is about things and people that feel predictable, not about overused phrases.

Common Mistakes

That movie was so cliché.' (using cliché as an adjective when referring to a predictable plot)
That movie was full of clichés.
for a predictable plot, cliché is still a noun; the adjective cliché (or clichéd) applies to the quality, not the thing itself.

cliche — adjective

Word family

  • clichéd
    adjectiveB2
  • cliché-ridden
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A cliché is an expression worn out by repetition — the core criticism is unoriginality ('the oldest cliché in the book'). A platitude is a dull, moralising remark offered as if it were deep wisdom, regardless of how often it has been said ('everything happens for a reason'). Banality describes the quality of being so ordinary and flat that a remark feels empty, even if it has not been endlessly repeated. A truism is a statement that is undeniably true and therefore pointless to say aloud ('you only live once'). Of these, cliché carries the strongest sting of unoriginality, while truism is the most neutral. Calling a speech 'full of clichés' attacks the speaker's imagination; calling it 'full of platitudes' attacks hollow moralising.

cliché ↗platitudebanality ↗truism ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • cliché-ridden
  • cliché factory

Adverbs

Phrases

  • a cliché in the making
  • beyond cliché

Prepositions

Etymology

FrenchEnglish

Borrowed from French cliché, the past participle of clicher 'to click' — an onomatopoeic word imitating the sound of a metal printing plate being cast. In 19th-century printing, a cliché was a moulded metal plate that reproduced the same block of type again and again. By the late 1800s the word had shifted to its modern figurative sense: an expression stamped out so many times that it has lost all freshness.

First known use

1881

1881, in the meaning defined at sense 1