Cliches

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A phrase or opinion that is overused and lacks originality
2. An expression that has become trite and predictable due to excessive use
3. A common idea or saying that has lost its impact from being worn out through repetition

Etymology: The plural of "cliche" is "cliches," and the story of the singular is what gives the plural its meaning. "Cliche" comes from French, where it was a printing term: a plate cast from a metal type or engraving, used to reproduce the same image over and over. The French verb "clicher" meant to stereotype, or to make a printing plate, and the noun took on the sense of a fixed, repeated form. English borrowed the word in that printing sense, and the figurative meaning followed naturally. A phrase that has been pressed into a thousand identical copies loses its freshness, so the printer's plate became a metaphor for language that is stamped out without thought. Because the word was built around the idea of mechanical reproduction, the plural simply repeats the same pattern: many identical impressions, each one as worn as the last.

Synonyms: stereotypes, platitudes, banalities, truisms, commonplaces

Antonyms: originality, novelty, innovation