clichécli‧ché /ˈkliːʃeɪ $ kliːˈʃeɪ/ ●○○ noun [countable] 
Word Origin
There is plenty of truth in the cliché that a trouble shared is a trouble halved.► see thesaurus at phrase, word—clichéd adjectiveCOLLOCATIONSadjectivesan old cliché· He seemed to believe that old cliché about a woman’s place being in the home.a tired cliché (=boring because it has been used so often)· The story is based on a series of tired clichés.a worn-out cliché (=very boring)· His writing is full of worn-out clichés.a popular cliché (=one used by a lot of people)· The term 'information revolution' is a popular cliché.a romantic cliché (=something romantic that is rather boring because many people do it)· Giving a girl red roses is a bit of a romantic cliché.verbsuse a cliché· 'Time marches on', to use the old cliché.be full of clichés· Sports reporting tends to be full of clichés.avoid cliché/clichés· Try and avoid clichés.become a cliché· It has become a cliché to say that Prague is the most beautiful city in Europe.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINcliché
ExamplesOrigin:
1800-1900 French past participle of clicher ‘to print from a metal plate’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- At the risk of repeating an old cliché, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
- It's a cliché, I know, but the game isn't over till the final whistle blows.
- It's become a cliché to say that presidential candidates are being marketed like bars of soap or boxes of cereal.
- The cliché that "truth is stranger than fiction" certainly applies here.
- Gedge pointed out the inherent stupidity of the famous theatrical cliché.
- I shall vote Tory because they have a better class of cliché.
- It's like looking back and reflecting, with a certain wisdom that maybe the cliché of rock'n'roll doesn't address.
- Mr Davenport now worries that re-engineering is passing from a fad to a cliché.
- Such works bear out the cliché that western high art challenges preconceptions, is experimental, disorientating and incomprehensible to the uninitiated.
- The pretence that his, Surkov's, opening had been merely a dream was a pathetic cliché.
THESAURUS► phrase
Collocations a group of words that have a particular meaning when used together, or which someone uses on a particular occasion: · What was the phrase he used to describe her?· I’ve never heard of the phrase before.· The president often used the phrase ‘War on terror’.
► expression a fixed phrase which is used in a language and has a particular meaning: · a colloquial expression (=an informal expression used in everyday spoken language)· The old-fashioned expression ‘in the family way’ means pregnant.· a common English expression· I was absolutely knackered, if you’ll pardon the expression (=used when you think someone might be offended by the words you have used).
► idiom a group of words that has a special meaning which you cannot guess from the meanings of each separate word: · ‘Under the weather’ is an idiom which means ‘ill’.
► cliché a phrase that is boring and no longer original because people use it a lot: · The phrase ‘at the end of the day’ has become a real cliché.· There is some truth in the old cliché that time is a great healer.
► saying/proverb a well-known phrase that gives advice about life: · Do you know the saying ‘A problem shared is a problem halved’?· There is an old Chinese proverb which states ‘A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’.
► slogan a short phrase that is easy to remember, especially one that is used in advertising: · advertising slogans· Protesters were shouting anti-government slogans.
► motto a phrase that expresses a person’s or organization’s beliefs and aims: · The school motto was ‘Truth and Honour’.
► word a single group of letters that are used together with a particular meaning: · ‘Casa’ is the Italian word for ‘house’.· I looked up the word in a dictionary.
► name a word that you use for a particular thing, place, organization etc: · Iberia is the ancient name for the Spanish Peninsula.· What’s the name of that type of dog?
► term a word or group of words that is used in a specific subject or area of language: · The medical term for losing your hair is ‘alopecia’.· People use the term ‘carbon footprint’ to talk about man’s polluting effect on the environment.
► phrase a group of words that have a particular meaning when used together, or which someone uses on a particular occasion: · We don’t really have a phrase for ‘bon appétit’ in English.· Politicians keep using the phrase ‘family values’.· an Italian phrase book
► expression a fixed phrase which is used in a language and has a particular meaning: · He uses a lot of obscure expressions that I don’t really understand.· What does the expression ‘wage slavery’ mean?
► buzzword a word or group of words that people in a particular type of work or activity have started using a lot because they think it is important: · E-learning is the buzzword in educational publishing at the moment.· For anthropologists, ethnodiversity has been a buzzword for quite a while.
► idiom a group of words that has a special meaning which you cannot guess from the meanings of each separate word: · ‘Full of beans’ is an idiom which means feeling lively and energetic.
► cliché a group of words that is used so often that it seems rather boring, annoying, or silly: · It’s a bit of a cliché, but good communication skills are the key to success.· the old movie cliché ‘we can’t go on meeting like this’
► slang very informal words used especially by a particular group of people such as young people, criminals, or soldiers: · Grass is slang for marijuana.· prison slang· army slang
► jargon words and phrases used in a particular profession or by a particular group of people, which are difficult for other people to understand – often used to show disapproval: · The instructions were full of technical jargon.· complicated legal jargon
Longman Language Activatorwords, remarks, ideas etc that have been used too much► over-used used too much and therefore no longer interesting or effective: · 'Creative' is an over-used word nowadays and is difficult to define.· His lecture turned out to be full of unoriginal material and over-used examples.
► stale no longer interesting or exciting because of having been used too much: · Nicholson's routine was full of stale old jokes that we'd all heard before.· stale advertising images
► trite a trite remark, idea etc has been used so often, that is seems boring or not sincere: · I know it might sound like a trite remark, but mothers usually know best.
► be wearing thin if an excuse, an argument, someone's behaviour etc is wearing thin , it has been used so often that it no longer has any effect and is annoying: · Her rebellious teenager act is wearing thin. After all, she's nearly twenty-five.be wearing a bit/a little thin: · That joke is wearing a bit thin now, Stuart.
► clichéd speech, writing or an idea that is clichéd is boring and without real meaning, because it is not original at all: · the clichéd openings of jokes like, "Have you heard the one about...?"· We work well together and we are really good friends. I know it sounds clichéd but it's the truth.
► hackneyed a hackneyed phrase, statement etc is boring and does not have much meaning because it has been used so often before: · Politicians tend to repeat the same hackneyed expressions over and over again.· All those slogans we used to chant sound so hackneyed now.
a phrase or sentence that is well-known or often used► saying a short sentence that contains advice, or says what is usually true in a particular situation. Sayings have usually been used for a long time: · 'You're only as old as you feel' -- that's one of my favourite sayings.old/famous/well-known saying: · The more often you play the flute, the better you'll get. Remember the old saying, practice makes perfect.· How many times have we heard the famous saying, 'Physician heal thyself'?as the saying goes (=according to a saying): · What followed, as the saying goes, shook the world.· Like father, like son, as the saying goes -- by the time Tim was eight, he was already a budding entrepreneur.
► proverb a well-known saying that gives advice or says something about human life, especially using words that represent a wider meaning: · Do you remember this old proverb: 'When poverty comes in the door, love flies out of the window'?Chinese/Arabic/French etc proverb: · An Irish proverb is relevant here -- 'You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather is.'cite/quote a proverb: · In reply, he quoted a Sanskrit proverb: 'Forgiveness is the ornament of the brave'.
► buzzword a word or phrase from one special area of knowledge that people suddenly start using a lot, especially because they think it means something important: · The big Internet buzzword at the moment is 'push technology'.· Customer-friendliness was the buzzword in British business circles.· 'Going snap' on a decision was the latest buzzword in our office.
► cliché a phrase that is used so often that it seems boring, annoying, or silly: · It's a cliché, I know, but the game isn't over till the final whistle blows.old/tired cliché: · At the risk of repeating an old cliché, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.become a cliché: · It's become a cliché to say that presidential candidates are being marketed like bars of soap or boxes of cereal.
► platitude a phrase that is so clearly true that it has no useful meaning and is therefore annoying, especially because the person using it seems insincere and unsympathetic: · The management tried to satisfy staff with some platitudes about the need to make sacrifices for the benefit of the company.empty platitude (=one that is meaningless): · The marriage counsellor could only offer us a string of empty platitudes.mouth/spout platitudes: · Mr Gringold droned on, mouthing the usual platitudes about motivation and self-reliance.
► quotation a sentence or phrase from a book, play, poem etc that is used to explain or show something: · If you do use quotations in your essay, select them carefully.· a dictionary of theatrical quotationsquotation from: · The book begins with a quotation from The Book of Common Prayer.attribute a quotation to somebody (=say that they are the first person to say it): · The quotation is attributed to Chu Hsi, an ancient Chinese philosopher.
► slogan a short phrase that is easy to remember, especially one that is used by advertisers, politicians, or entertainers: · Bloomingdale's has as its slogan 'Like no other store in the world'.· Young men risked their lives to daub buildings with anti-government slogans. slogan of: · 'Liberte, egalite, fraternite' was the slogan of the French Revolution.advertising/marketing/campaign slogan: · They've come up with a new advertising slogan for the product.
► catchphrase a short, well-known phrase used regularly by an entertainer or other public figure: · The public soon learned to associate the catchphrase 'Ooh, you are awful' with the inimitable Dick Emery.· His catchphrases like'What a peach of a shot' and 'That's a dream of a pass' are now part of tennis language.
► motto a word or phrase that expresses a person or organization's aims or beliefs: · The school's motto was 'Work hard and play hard'.· "All my life," said Sir Humphrey, "my motto has been 'aim high'."family motto: · The Mortimer family motto is inscribed above the door -- 'Humilitas'.
WORD SETS► Linguisticsacronym, nounadage, nounaffricate, nounagglutination, nounalphanumeric, adjectiveanglophone, nounantecedent, nounantonym, nounaphorism, nounarchaism, nounargot, nounaspirate, verbaspirate, nounaspiration, nounassonance, nounbaby talk, nounback, adjectiveback formation, nounbilabial, nounbody language, nouncant, nouncliché, nouncognate, adjectivecognate, nouncollocate, verbcollocation, nouncolloquial, adjectivecombining form, nouncompound, nounconcordance, nounconnotation, nounconsonant, nouncontext, nouncontraction, nouncorpus, noundative, noundeclarative, adjectivedecline, verbdecode, verbdescriptive, adjectivediction, noundiminutive, noundiminutive suffix, noundiphthong, nounelide, verbellipsis, nounelocution, nounemphasis, nounencode, verbenunciate, verb-ese, suffixetymology, nouneuphemism, nouneuphemistic, adjectiveexpression, nounfigurative, adjectivefirst language, nounformal, adjectivefricative, noungender, nounglide, nounglottal stop, nounhard, adjectivehieroglyphics, nounhigh-level, adjectivehomograph, nounhomonym, nounhomophone, nounhyperbole, nounideogram, nounidiolect, nounidiom, nounidiomatic, adjectiveinflection, nounintonation, nounIPA, nounironic, adjectivejargon, nounlabial, nounlanguage, nounlegalese, nounlexical, adjectivelexicography, nounlexicon, nounlexis, nounlingua franca, nounlinguist, nounlinguistic, adjectivelinguistics, nounlip-read, verbloanword, nounlocution, nounlong, adjectivemaxim, nounmetalanguage, nounmispronounce, verbmnemonic, nounmonosyllabic, adjectivemonosyllable, nounmorpheme, nounmorphology, nounnasal, adjectivenasal, nounneologism, nounneutral, adjectivenonce, adjectivenon-standard, adjectivenonverbal, adjectiveofficialese, nounonomatopoeia, nounopen vowel, nounorientalist, nounoxymoron, nounpalindrome, nounparagraph, nounparaphrase, verbparaphrase, nounphilology, nounphoneme, nounphonemics, nounphonetic, adjectivephonetics, nounphonic, adjectivephonology, nounphrasal, adjectivephraseology, nounpidgin, nounplosive, nounpolyglot, adjectivepolysemous, adjectivepolysyllabic, adjectiveportmanteau word, nounpragmatics, nounpreliterate, adjectivepre-verbal, adjectiveprimary stress, nounpronounce, verbpronounceable, adjectivepronunciation, nounproverb, nounpsychobabble, nounReceived Pronunciation, nounrecitation, nounregister, nounretroflex, adjectiveRP, nounschwa, nounsecondary stress, nounsecond language, nounsemantic, adjectivesemantics, nounsemiotics, nounsemi-vowel, nounshort, adjectivesibilant, adjectivesibilant, nounsic, adverbsilent, adjectivesimile, nounslang, nounsound, verbspeech, nounspeech therapy, nounspell, verbspelling, nounspoonerism, nounstandard, adjectivestem, nounstop, nounstress, nounstress, verbstressed, adjectivestress mark, nounstructuralism, nounstylistics, nounsuperlative, nounsyllabic, adjectivesyllable, nounsynonym, nounsynonymous, adjectivetechnical, adjectiveterminology, nounthesaurus, nountone, nountone language, nountoneless, adjectivetongue, nountranscribe, verbtranscription, nountrope, noununpronounceable, adjectiveunstressed, adjectiveunvoiced, adjectiveusage, nounuse, verbuse, nounvelar, adjectivevocabulary, nounvoiceless, adjectivevowel, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYadjectives► an old cliché
an idea or phrase that has been used so much that it is not effective or does not have any meaning any longer: · He seemed to believe that old cliché about a woman’s place being in the home.
► a tired cliché (=boring because it has been used so often)· The story is based on a series of tired clichés.
► a worn-out cliché (=very boring)· His writing is full of worn-out clichés.
► a popular cliché (=one used by a lot of people)· The term 'information revolution' is a popular cliché.
► a romantic cliché (=something romantic that is rather boring because many people do it)· Giving a girl red roses is a bit of a romantic cliché.
verbs► use a cliché· 'Time marches on', to use the old cliché.
► be full of clichés· Sports reporting tends to be full of clichés.
► avoid cliché/clichés· Try and avoid clichés.
► become a cliché· It has become a cliché to say that Prague is the most beautiful city in Europe.
There is plenty of truth in the cliché that a trouble shared is a trouble halved.► see thesaurus at phrase, word—clichéd adjectiveCOLLOCATIONSadjectivesan old cliché· He seemed to believe that old cliché about a woman’s place being in the home.a tired cliché (=boring because it has been used so often)· The story is based on a series of tired clichés.a worn-out cliché (=very boring)· His writing is full of worn-out clichés.a popular cliché (=one used by a lot of people)· The term 'information revolution' is a popular cliché.a romantic cliché (=something romantic that is rather boring because many people do it)· Giving a girl red roses is a bit of a romantic cliché.verbsuse a cliché· 'Time marches on', to use the old cliché.be full of clichés· Sports reporting tends to be full of clichés.avoid cliché/clichés· Try and avoid clichés.become a cliché· It has become a cliché to say that Prague is the most beautiful city in Europe.