threadbare

[ thred-bair ]

/ ˈθrɛdˌbɛər /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR threadbare ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

having the nap worn off so as to lay bare the threads of the warp and woof, as a fabric, garment, etc.

wearing threadbare clothes; shabby or poor: a threadbare old man.

meager, scanty, or poor: a threadbare emotional life.

hackneyed; trite; ineffectively stale: threadbare arguments.

Origin of threadbare

First recorded in 1325–75, threadbare is from the Middle English word thredbare. See thread, bare¹

OTHER WORDS FROM threadbare

thread·bare·ness, noun

Words nearby threadbare

thread rope, thread silk, thread vein, thread-legged bug, thread-line fishing, threadbare, threaded, threaded glass, threadfin, threadfish, threadneedle street

Example sentences from the Web for threadbare

Even though there is a threadbare concession stand, overflowing picnic baskets abound.

Native American Basketball Team in Wyoming Have Hoop Dreams Of Their Own |Robert Silverman |August 31, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Instead, Carson tends to alternate between inflammatory arguments and threadbare truisms.

The Conservatives' Great Black Hope |Evan Gahr |May 19, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Immigration and tax policy are just as beggared and threadbare and awful.

Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush & the Politics of Exhaustion |Nick Gillespie |April 7, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
On the other hand, the economic model is as threadbare as many of the buildings and much of the island's infrastructure.

Obama Should End America’s Stupidest Foreign Policy: Isolating Cuba |Robert Shrum |February 26, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Sequestration tore at our threadbare social safety net, and this deal leaves the damage intact.

Tea Party Republicans: The Biggest Sore Winners in Washington |Jamelle Bouie |December 12, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
It was a common belief on that street that his fortune was stuffed away in some of the threadbare cushions.

Travelers Five Along Life's Highway |Annie Fellows Johnston
Arrived at this point, he tried to draw the skirts of his dressing-gown over a pair of angular knees encased in threadbare felt.

Cousin Pons |Honore de Balzac
One prefers a wooden bench to a greasy velvet cushion, and a sanded floor to a soiled and threadbare carpet.

The Wit and Humor of America, Volume II. (of X.) |Various
His clothes were baggy and threadbare, his linen soiled and shabby.

McClure's Magazine, Vol. XXXI, No. 4, August 1908 |Various
Here is a scholar in his long gown, threadbare and showing signs of decay.

Sidelights on Chinese Life |J. Macgowan

British Dictionary definitions for threadbare

threadbare

/ (ˈθrɛdˌbɛə) /

adjective

(of cloth, clothing, etc) having the nap worn off so that the threads are exposed

meagre or poor a threadbare existence

hackneyed a threadbare argument

wearing threadbare clothes; shabby

Derived forms of threadbare

threadbareness, noun

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

threadbare

adjective

Origin of threadbare

OTHER WORDS FROM threadbare

Words nearby threadbare

Example sentences from the Web for threadbare

British Dictionary definitions for threadbare

adjective

Derived forms of threadbare

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

threadbare

adjective

Origin of threadbare

OTHER WORDS FROM threadbare

Words nearby threadbare

Words related to threadbare

Example sentences from the Web for threadbare

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adjective

Derived forms of threadbare

British Dictionary definitions for threadbare