hack·neyed

[hak-need]
adjective
made commonplace or trite; stale; banal: the hackneyed images of his poetry.

Origin:
1740–50; hackney + -ed2

non·hack·neyed, adjective
un·hack·neyed, adjective


overdone, overused. See commonplace.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

hack·ney

[hak-nee] noun, plural hack·neys, adjective, verb
noun
1.
Also called hackney coach. a carriage or coach for hire; cab.
2.
a trotting horse used for drawing a light carriage or the like.
3.
a horse used for ordinary riding or driving.
4.
( initial capital letter ) one of an English breed of horses having a high-stepping gait.
adjective
5.
let out, employed, or done for hire.
verb (used with object)
6.
to make trite, common, or stale by frequent use.
7.
to use as a hackney.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English hakeney, special use of placename Hackney, Middlesex, England

hack·ney·ism, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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00:10
Hackneyed is a GRE word you need to know.
So is sedulous. Does it mean:
diligent in application or attention; persistently or carefully maintained
to swing or move to and fro, as a pendulum does, or to vacillate between differing beliefs, opinions or conditions
Collins
World English Dictionary
hackney (ˈhæknɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a compact breed of harness horse with a high-stepping trot
2.  a.  a coach or carriage that is for hire
 b.  (as modifier): a hackney carriage
3.  a popular term for hack
 
vb
4.  (tr; usually passive) to make commonplace and banal by too frequent use
 
[C14: probably after Hackney, where horses were formerly raised; sense 4 meaning derives from the allusion to a weakened hired horse]
 
'hackneyism
 
n

Hackney (ˈhæknɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
a borough of NE Greater London: formed in 1965 from the former boroughs of Shoreditch, Stoke Newington, and Hackney; nearby are Hackney Marshes, the largest recreation ground in London. Pop: 208 400 (2003 est). Area: 19 sq km (8 sq miles)

hackneyed (ˈhæknɪd) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
(of phrases, fashions, etc) used so often as to be trite, dull, and stereotyped

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

hackney
c.1300, see hack (2).

hackneyed
1769, "kept for hire," pp. adj. from hackney (see hack (2)). The figurative sense of "so overused as to have become uninteresting" is older, from 1749.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
This is the most hackneyed view of the situation I have heard expressed.
The concept of an evil corporation is pretty hackneyed at this point.
Further such thinking is not only so hackneyed but it's also passé.
The result doesn't even reach hackneyed sitcom status.
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