threadbare
Syllables: thread·bare/ˈθɹɛdbɛə/US/ˈθɹɛdˌbɛ(ə)ɹ/
threadbare adjective: of cloth, clothing, furnishings, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show; shabby, worn-out.
.jpg){kind=link}
Adjective
threadbare (comparative more threadbare, superlative most threadbare)
- Of cloth, clothing, furnishings, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show; shabby, worn-out.
- His life vvas nigh vnto deaths dore yplaſte, / And thred-bare cote, and cobled ſhoes hee vvare, […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28, page 53
- VVill any Freedom here from you be born, / VVhoſe Cloaths are thred-bare, and vvhoſe Cloaks are torn?1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, W. Bowles, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […]...
- In poor condition; damaged, shabby; also, poorly equipped or provided for, inadequate, meagre, scanty.
- Welth and wyt, I say, be so threde bare worne, / That all is without measure, and fer beyonde the mone.a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Magnyfycence, a Goodly Interlude and a Mery, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […]...
- From an Underſtanding and a Conſcience, thread-bare and ragged vvith perpetual turning; […]1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section I. The Introduction.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 51
- Synonyms:
- awanting, deficient, dismal, exiguous, geason, inadequate, insufficient, lank, lean, lousy
- Of an argument, excuse, etc.: used so often that it is no longer effective or interesting; banal, clichéd, trite.
- An argument or assertion with little in the way of substance or supporting evidence.
- But with so many tired, lazy callbacks to its own threadbare catalog (including “Love Is Not The Answer,” a watery echo of the epic “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” from 2003’s Permission To Land), Hot Cakes marks the point where The Darkness has stopped cannibalizing the golden age of stadium...2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes [music review]”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 06 Apr 2023
- Synonyms:
- awanting, deficient, dismal, exiguous, geason, inadequate, insufficient, lank, lean, lousy
- Of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare (sense 1) material; hence, impoverished, poor.
- Be gon, all Honeſty, / Thou fooliſh, ſlender, thredbare, ſtarving thing, be gon!1678 February 28 (date licensed), Tho[mas] Shadwell, The History of Timon of Athens, the Man-hater. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC, Act I, page 1
- Synonyms:
- broke, down at heel, penniless, almsless, arm, badly off, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, boracic
- Antonyms:
- bow-legged wi' brass, comfortably off, filthy rich, loaded, fat, minted, moneyed, moneybags, of means, oofy
threadbare meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
threadbare in Tamil
- அக்குவேறாக அச்சுவேறாக, இழையிழையாக, கந்தலான, ஏழ்மையான, சொற்பமான
threadbare in Urdu
- فرسودہ, پامال, پھٹا ہوا, تار تار
threadbare in Malayalam
- old, worn, well worn
- കീറിപ്പറിഞ്ഞ, പിഞ്ഞിക്കീറിയ, പിഞ്ചിയ, ഇഴപിഞ്ചിയ, ഉപയോഗിച്ചു തേയ്മാനം വന്ന, പെരുമാറിപ്പഴകിയ
threadbare in Kannada
- ಚಿಂದಿಯಾದ, ಹಳೆಯ, ಕೊಳಕಾದ, ಹಿಂಜಿರುವ, ಎಳೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡಿರುವ, ಜೀರ್ಣವಾದ
Examples of threadbare in a sentence
- Wit and coin are always doubted with a threadbare coat.1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Club of Queer Fellows”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […])...
- Such threadbare coats and trousers, such fusty gowns and shawls, such squashed hats and bonnets, such boots and shoes, such umbrellas and walking-sticks, never were seen in Rag Fair.1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “Little Mother”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC, 1st...
- Unkempt, in threadbare clothes, with holed shoes and sun-cured hide, my costume is permanent: the traveler, the man from far away.2014 December, Paul Salopek, “Blessed. Cursed. Claimed. On Foot through the Holy Lands”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National...
Synonyms of threadbare
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of threadbare
| comparative | more threadbare |
|---|---|
| superlative | most threadbare |
Origin of threadbare
PIE word *bʰosós From Middle English thred-bar, thred-bare (“of cloth, clothing, etc.: worn to such an extent that the warp and weft threads show, shabby, worn-out; (figurative) inadequate, poor”) [and other forms], from thred (“piece of textile twine”) (from Old English þrǣd (“thread”), from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz (“thread; twisted fibre”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to drill, pierce; to rub; to turn, twist”)) + bar, bare (“naked, unclothed, bare; not covered”) (from Old English bær (“naked, bare; unconcealed”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“naked, bare”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰosós (“bare; barefoot”)). The English word is analysable as thread + bare.
Words formed from threadbare
Questions about threadbare
- What does threadbare mean?
- Threadbare means of cloth, clothing, furnishings, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show; shabby, worn-out.
- What is threadbare in Tamil?
- Threadbare in Tamil is அக்குவேறாக அச்சுவேறாக, இழையிழையாக, கந்தலான. See Threadbare meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use threadbare in a sentence?
- Wit and coin are always doubted with a threadbare coat.
- What part of speech is threadbare?
- Threadbare is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce threadbare?
- Threadbare is pronounced /ˈθɹɛdbɛə/ (UK).
Words near threadbare in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: threadbare (page history and authors); threadbare (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); threadbare (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); threadbare (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); threadbare (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-threadbare.wav.
Cite this entry: “threadbare.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/threadbare. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.