[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

threadbare \thread"bare`\, a.
   1. worn to the naked thread; having the nap worn off;
      threadbare clothes. "a threadbare cope." --chaucer.
      1913 webster

   2. fig.: worn out; as, a threadbare subject; stale topics and
      threadbare quotations. --swift.
      1913 webster

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

threadbare
     adj 1: repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse; "bromidic
            sermons"; "his remarks were trite and commonplace";
            "hackneyed phrases"; "a stock answer"; "repeating
            threadbare jokes"; "parroting some timeworn axiom";
            "the trite metaphor `hard as nails'" syn: banal, commonplace,
             hackneyed, old-hat, shopworn, stocka, timeworn,
             tired, trite, well-worn
     2: having the nap worn away so that the threads show through;
        "threadbare rugs"
see also:
banal commonplace hackneyed old-hat shopworn stocka 
timeworn tired trite well-worn 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

80 moby thesaurus words for "threadbare":
   back-number, banal, bare, bathetic, bewhiskered, boring, bromidic,
   cliche, cliche-ridden, cliched, common, commonplace, corny,
   cut-and-dried, damaged, deep-worn, dilapidated, dingy, dog-eared,
   down-at-heel, dull, fade, faded, familiar, frayed, fusty, hack,
   hackney, hackneyed, imitative, impaired, injured, monotonous,
   moth-eaten, musty, old hat, overused, overworked, platitudinous,
   played out, prosaic, ragged, run-down, scruffy, seedy, sere, set,
   shabby, shelfworn, shopworn, slovenly, sorry, square, stale,
   stereotyped, stock, tacky, tattered, tatty, tedious, timeworn,
   tired, tiresome, torn, trite, truistic, uncreative, unoriginal,
   warmed-over, well-known, well-worn, worn, worn out, worn ragged,
   worn thin, worn to rags, worn to threads, worn-down, worn-out,
   wretched

Threadbare >> T Words
Threadbare, definition of term: Threadbare
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