cliché

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. stereotype, plate, cut (See printing); truism, commonplace, platitude; banality, triviality, bromide (inf.). See maxim.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. commonplace, platitude, truism, bromide, stereotype, proverb, saying, slogan, trite phrase, trite remark, saw, old saw, stereotyped saying, vapid expression, prosaism, triteness, tired phrase, threadbare phrase, banality, triviality, staleness, vapidity, hackneyed phrase, hackneyed expression, chestnut*; see also motto .

A cliché is an expression or idea which, though once fresh and forceful, has become hackneyed and weak through much repetition; a platitude is a trite remark or idea, esp. one uttered as if it were novel or profound; a commonplace is any obvious or conventional remark or idea; a truism is a statement whose truth is widely known and whose utterance, therefore, seems superfluous; bromide is an informal term for a platitude that is especially dull, tiresome, or banal

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun A trite expression or idea: banality, bromide, commonplace, platitude, stereotype, truism. See SURPRISE.