threadbare

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“
But even the strongest tent becomes weather-worn and threadbare, and in the long run it "falls in a heap!"

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Having the nap worn down so that the filling or warp threads show through; frayed or shabby: threadbare rugs.
  2. adjective Wearing old, shabby clothing.
  3. adjective Overused to the point of being worn out; hackneyed: threadbare excuses.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • But now the carpet was threadbare, the smell of cigarettes soaked decades-deep into the yellowed walls. —  F ;SF; - vol 092 issue 04 - April 1997
  • His dark suit was threadbare, his shirt of doubtful cleanliness, his tie carelessly tied. —  Maigret’s Dead Man - Georges Simenon - 56: 1948
  • The stair carpet was threadbare, and the higher he climbed, the more pronounced the smell. —  Maigret's Boyhood Friend - Georges Simenon - 97
  • The heels were threadbare, the toes stained the color of nicotine. —  Gone by Lisa Gardner
  • Though their clothes and bags were homemade and threadbare, they seemed oblivious to all but each other. —  Travels with Isabel
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

tattered ·  woolen ·  well-worn ·  shabby ·  rumple ·  ill-fitting ·  drab ·  maroon ·  plaid ·  striped ·  voluminous ·  quilted
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also thredbare, threedebare; from Middle English thredbare, threedbare, thredebare; from thread + bare.
 

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/ˈθrɛdbɛr/
by American Heritage

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