shopworn

See also: shop-worn

English

Etymology

shop +‎ worn

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɒpwɔː(ɹ)n/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adjective

shopworn (comparative more shopworn, superlative most shopworn)

1. Having been used, as a sample item in a retail store.

   The handbag looks nice, but shopworn.

2. Faded.
3. (figuratively) Not fresh; tired or cliché.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hackneyed

   • 2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-Com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 December 2017:

     New York is positioned as the third protagonist—literally, as the characters repeatedly tell each other. Recycled aerial footage of the city underlines just how generic this particular insight is. The whole film is like that, its dialogue constantly poking fun and calling attention to the shopworn conventions.

   • 2021 December 13, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time‎^[2]:

     Musk is our avatar of infinite possibility, our usher to the remade world, where shopworn practices are cast aside and the unprecedented becomes logical, where Earth and humanity can still be saved.