stale
1not fresh; vapid or flat, as beverages; dry or hardened, as bread.
musty; stagnant: stale air.
having lost novelty or interest; hackneyed; trite: a stale joke.
having lost freshness, vigor, quick intelligence, initiative, or the like, as from overstrain, boredom, or surfeit: He had grown stale on the job and needed a long vacation.
Law. having lost force or effectiveness through absence of action, as a claim.
to make or become stale.
Origin of stale
1Other words for stale
Opposites for stale
Other words from stale
- stalely, adverb
- staleness, noun
Other definitions for stale (2 of 2)
(of livestock, especially horses) to urinate.
Origin of stale
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use stale in a sentence
The trick that he hit upon was the stalest, the most threadbare, the most commonplace and vulgar that one can imagine.
Overland | John William De ForestBread and water—both of the stalest—constituted poor Mole's only fare, and his lodging was literally "on the cold, cold ground."
Jack Harkaway's Boy Tinker Among The Turks | Bracebridge HemyngCome, now, Ned; you know as well as I do that that is one of the stalest commonplaces going.
Cashel Byron's Profession | George Bernard ShawIf it ever had been, its essence was long since exhaled: there was nothing in his whole nature now but the stalest dregs, surely?
The subject of that man's alleged eccentricities invariably brought out a flood of the town's stalest anecdotes.
The Imitator | Percival Pollard
British Dictionary definitions for stale (1 of 2)
/ (steɪl) /
(esp of food) hard, musty, or dry from being kept too long
(of beer, etc) flat and tasteless from being kept open too long
(of air) stagnant; foul
uninteresting from overuse; hackneyed: stale clichés
no longer new: stale news
lacking in energy or ideas through overwork or lack of variety
banking (of a cheque) not negotiable by a bank as a result of not having been presented within six months of being written
law (of a claim, etc) having lost its effectiveness or force, as by failure to act or by the lapse of time
to make or become stale
Origin of stale
1Derived forms of stale
- stalely, adverb
- staleness, noun
British Dictionary definitions for stale (2 of 2)
/ (steɪl) /
(intr) (of livestock) to urinate
the urine of horses or cattle
Origin of stale
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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