threadbarer

Adjective

threadbare (comparative more threadbare, superlative most threadbare)

1. 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
2. (figuratively) 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, […]...

   Synonyms:

   awanting, deficient, dismal, exiguous, geason, inadequate, insufficient, lank, lean, lousy

3. (figuratively) Of an argument, excuse, etc.: used so often that it is no longer effective or interesting; banal, clichéd, trite.

   Synonyms:

   banal, bathetic, bromidic, cheesy, stock, clichéd, commonplace, corny, dog-eared, hackneyed

   Antonyms:

   fresh, new, all-new, brand new, brand spanking new, cherry, freshly made, green, hot, mint

4. (figuratively) 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

5. (archaic, obsolete) 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