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old story

NOUN
cliché
Synonyms
WEAK
adage banality boiler plate bromide buzzword chestnut commonplace corn counterword familiar tune motto platitude potboiler prosaism proverb saying shibboleth slogan stale saying stereotype threadbare phrase trite remark triteness triviality truism vapid expression
NOUN
platitude
Synonyms
STRONGEST
banality bromide
STRONG
buzzword chestnut commonplace corn evenness flatness hokum inanity insipidity monotony motto potboiler proverb saw shibboleth stereotype tag triteness triviality truism vapidity verbiage
WEAK
boiler plate cliché familiar tune hackneyed saying high camp old chestnut prosaicism trite remark
Antonyms
WEAK
coinage nuance

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It is an old story: Demagogues corrupt the people around them.

From Salon • Apr. 11, 2026

That is a very old story in America, and it has left Doukopil twisting in the wind.

From Slate • Jan. 6, 2026

But Erica Ford, as a cross-dressing game poacher and archer-in-disguise named Ralph, provides the kind of character and performance that delivers new blood and enlivens an old story.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

Sipping their morning coffee, cracking open the newspaper, telling that old story they’ve told too many times.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 22, 2025

Thanks to the odd exchange with Raven earlier that day, she knew The Gold-Bug was an old story of Edgar Allan Poe’s.

From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

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