stale

As top grandmasters began studying with computers, their tactics became stale and mechanical.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Much like bread pudding — another of my favorite loaf-based forms — almost anything works here, especially if it’s stale enough, or toasted enough, to give you some real texture.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

“These missed opportunities allowed evidence to grow stale, witnesses to disappear or die. The older the case gets, the weaker it becomes.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Like skinny jeans, they eventually became unavoidable — and thus a bit stale, giving way to looser fits and bulkier “dad” sneakers.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

On Thursday, I open my lunch and take out a PB&J on stale wheat bread.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

The debate over whether pineapple belongs on pizza is staler than a three-day-old Domino’s slice.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2022

“Under the Silver Lake” is rarely uninteresting, but it smells a little staler than it should.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2019

Don’t be fooled by the fancy packaging, though: Rarely in the history of Broadway has a bigger, staler nothingburger been served up than “Pretty Woman.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2018

The closest thing Entourage had to real conflict was E’s attempt to be a decent human being, usually because of a woman—and that plot grew staler than Vince’s acting.

From Slate ● May 29, 2015

The Journalist raised his own glass with staler fingers, and stared for a second through narrowing eyes into the shimmering vintage.

From The Sick-a-Bed Lady And Also Hickory Dock, The Very Tired Girl, The Happy-Day, Something That Happened in October, The Amateur Lover, Heart of The City, The Pink Sash, Woman's Only Business by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

The stalest reality show becomes, in her telling, a Talmudic feat: “There is a tribunal of scholars who teaches them how to sing!” she tells Shulem breathlessly.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 14, 2019

It opens with a fresh angle on one of the stalest scenes in music history, when Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2018

Luckily, so expert is Firth’s timing—like that of Emma Thompson, as Bridget’s obstetrician—that laughs, often of the rueful variety, can be conjured in the stalest scenes.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 16, 2016

When you compete in a multiplayer shooter and you are at a disadvantage until you unlock better weapons; that's the stalest of crust.

From The Verge ● Oct. 28, 2015

Come, now, Ned; you know as well as I do that that is one of the stalest commonplaces going.

From Cashel Byron's Profession by Bernard Shaw

Traditionally, sourdough or challah that has staled a bit is used for French toast.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2022

As it staled, I toasted pieces under the broiler and dipped these into runny egg yolks.

From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2022

Hers features an any-nut frangipane you can slather onto staled panettone, croissants, brioche or even white bread and top with your choice of nuts and fruit.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 20, 2021

The clerk’s disinterest practically staled the air, their voice over the speaker the droning whine of a giant, bored nose.

From Slate ● May 29, 2018

If the Preacher really had staled Mr. Leroy’s money, seemed to me like he’d try to make hisself real hard.

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis

"The inclusion of legume flours slows staling associated with gluten-free breads due to the resistant starch content of legumes," said Lowe.

From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2022

And from a wise Italian nonna, Antonietta Fazone, I learned that toasting bread, versus staling it on the counter overnight, it is preferable for preserving its flavor.

From Salon ● Nov. 6, 2021

Toasting had preserved the flavor, while staling had not.

From Salon ● Nov. 6, 2021

The retrogradation of wheat starch in bread is responsible for staling.

From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2016

But isn’t he the big fool to be having it dangling where the wash of a wave, or a pickpocket, or a worse timptation than either might be staling it away from him?”

From We and the World, Part II A Book for Boys by Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing