cliché
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkliːʃeɪ/
- Rhymes: -iːʃeɪ
- (US) enPR: klē-shāʹ, IPA(key): /kliˈʃeɪ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪ
Noun edit
cliché (plural clichés)
- Something, most often a phrase or expression, that is overused or used outside its original context, so that its original impact and meaning are lost. A trite saying; a platitude. [from 19th c.]
- Synonyms: platitude, stereotype; see also Thesaurus:saying
- The villain kidnapping the love interest in a film is a bit of a cliché.
- I know it's a bit of a cliché, but love really does conquer all.
- (printing) A stereotype (printing plate).
Usage notes edit
- The alternative spelling cliche may be used without confusion, as there is no other word in English with this spelling. (Contrast résumé, resumé.)
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
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Adjective edit
cliché (comparative more cliché, superlative most cliché)
- (proscribed) clichéd; having the characteristics of a cliché
Verb edit
cliché (third-person singular simple present clichés, present participle clichéing, simple past and past participle clichéd or (rare) clichéed)
- (transitive, intransitive) To use a cliché; to make up a word or a name that sounds like a cliché.
- 2015, Shonda Rhimes, Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person[1]:
- He clichéd at me. He clichéd at me in a perky, condescending tone.
Anagrams edit
Dutch edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cliché n (plural clichés, diminutive clichétje n)
- A cliché.
- An unoriginal work.
- A printing plate, a stereotype.
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
French edit
Etymology edit
Past participle of clicher (“to stereotype, (originally) to copy”, literally “to click, clink”), from Middle French clicher, from Old French cliquer (“to click, clack, sound, resound”), of Germanic origin, related to Dutch klikken (“to click, rattle”), Low German klikken (“to click”), German klicken (“to click”), Danish klikke (“to click”), Swedish klicka (“to click”). Probably onomatopoeic, and probably influenced by Middle High German klitsch (“soft, pulpy mass”), from the old technique of creating a printing plate. More at click.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cliché m (plural clichés)
- (printing) stereotype (printing plate)
- La reproduction dans la presse de dessins et de photographies se fait au moyen de clichés typographiques.
- The reproduction in the press of drawings and photographs is done by means of typographical clichés.
- (photography) negative
- (by extension) snapshot
- prendre un cliché ― take a snapshot
- (figurative) cliché; stereotype (overused phrase or expression)
- Synonyms: banalité, idée reçue, lieu commun, stéréotype
Descendants edit
- → Catalan: clixé
- → Czech: klišé
- → Danish: kliché, kliche
- → English: cliché
- → Estonian: klišee
- → Finnish: klisee
- → Galician: clixé
- → German: Klischee
- → Hungarian: klisé
- → Icelandic: klisja
- → Macedonian: клише́ (klišé)
- → Portuguese: clichê, cliché (unadapted form)
- → Russian: клише́ (klišé)
- → Serbo-Croatian: klìšē/клѝше̄
- → Slovak: klišé
- → Slovene: kliše
- → Spanish: cliché
- → Turkish: klişe
Further reading edit
- “cliché”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from French cliché.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cliché m (invariable)
References edit
- ^ cliché in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Anagrams edit
Polish edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from French cliché. Doublet of klisza.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cliché n (indeclinable)
Further reading edit
- cliché in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Spanish edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cliché m (plural clichés)
- (printing) cliché
- (talking) cliché
Further reading edit
- “cliché”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014