trite
/trʌɪt
/adjective
(Of a remark or idea) lacking originality or freshness; dull on account of overuse: this point may now seem obvious and trite...
- Quibbling about definitions of freedom is a trite response to a serious issue.
- Her questions were trite and her lack of contact with literature all too apparent.
- This is more than the trite truism that there is a thin line between love and hate.
Synonyms
hackneyed, banal, clichéd, platitudinous, vapid, commonplace, ordinary, common, stock, conventional, stereotyped, predictable;
stale, overused, overworked, overdone, worn out, time-worn, tired, threadbare, hoary, hack, unimaginative, unoriginal, derivative, uninspired, dull, pedestrian, run-of-the-mill, routine, humdrum
informal old hat, corny, played out, hacky
North American informal cornball, dime-store
rare truistic, bromidic
Derivatives
tritely
/ adverb ...- It can rightly, if tritely, be called a hinge-event in human history.
- That sounds tritely obvious, but in this case ‘differently ‘was so radically different that it is hard to even put into words.’
- All you get's a sad love story about a pocket killer and an adoring waitress who tritely sings ‘I don't care what he's done.‘
triteness
/ noun ...- Despite a script that occasionally reverted to triteness - ‘Retirement is not always a bed of roses; for some it's a bed of nails’ - it was a revealing programme that was poignant at times.
- But the singers' interaction with one another introduced just enough playfulness to the proceedings to dispel the threat of triteness.
- Filled with platitudes and triteness, the speech utterly failed to inject renewed hope at one of the most important stages of the year.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin tritus, past participle of terere 'to rub'.
The idea behind trite is one of wearing something away by use and perhaps also of causing irritation through repetition. The word first appeared in English in the mid 16th century, from a form of Latin terere ‘to rub’. An old meaning, now obsolete, was ‘physically worn away or frayed’.