Hackneyed

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈhækniːd/

Definitions

1. Lacking originality or freshness due to excessive use
2. Describing something that has become dull or cliché from too much repetition
3. Characterized by being stale and uninteresting because it is overly familiar

Etymology: Before it described a tired phrase, "hackney" named an ordinary horse. In Middle English, a "hakeney" was a horse suited to everyday riding rather than warfare, and the word came to mean a carriage for hire, the hackney coach. Such carriages were used so constantly, passing from one customer to the next through city streets, that they became the most commonplace sight on the road. From that image of something worn down by constant use, "hackneyed" arrived in English as an adjective formed from "hackney" and the suffix "-ed." Something hackneyed has been handled so often that its freshness is gone, whether a phrase, a plot or an idea.

Synonyms: overused, cliche, trite

Antonyms: original, fresh