cliché
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editPronunciation
edit- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkliːʃeɪ/
- Rhymes: -iːʃeɪ
- (US) enPR: klē-shāʹ, IPA(key): /kliˈʃeɪ/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪ
Noun
editcliché (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.
- 2003, “The Package”, performed by A Perfect Circle:
- Clever got me this far
Then tricky got me in
Eye on what I'm after
I don't need another friend
Smile and drop the cliche
Till you think I'm listening
Take just what I came for
Then I'm out the door again
- 2023, “Remember All The Girls”, performed by The Sherlocks:
- Don’t believe what they’re saying everything’s is gonna change How could it be ever the same? It’s just a cliché fading Till we go our separate ways
- (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
editRelated terms
editTranslations
edit
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Adjective
editcliché (comparative more cliché, superlative most cliché)
- (proscribed) clichéd; having the characteristics of a cliché
Verb
editcliché (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
editDutch
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editcliché n (plural clichés, diminutive clichétje n)
- A cliché.
- An unoriginal work.
- A printing plate, a stereotype.
Derived terms
editDescendants
editFrench
editEtymology
editPast 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
editNoun
editcliché 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)
- → Persian: کلیشه (kliše)
- → 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
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editUnadapted borrowing from French cliché.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editcliché m (invariable)
References
edit- ^ cliché in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Anagrams
editPolish
editEtymology
editUnadapted borrowing from French cliché. Doublet of klisza.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editcliché n (indeclinable)
Further reading
edit- cliché in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Spanish
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editcliché m (plural clichés)
- (printing) cliché
- (talking) cliché
Further reading
edit- “cliché”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Anagrams
edit- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/iːʃeɪ
- Rhymes:English/iːʃeɪ/2 syllables
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪ
- Rhymes:English/eɪ/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms spelled with É
- English terms spelled with ◌́
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Printing
- English adjectives
- English proscribed terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Rhetoric
- Dutch terms borrowed from French
- Dutch terms derived from French
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/eː
- Rhymes:Dutch/eː/2 syllables
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch terms spelled with É
- Dutch terms spelled with ◌́
- Dutch neuter nouns
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Germanic languages
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Printing
- French terms with usage examples
- fr:Photography
- Italian terms borrowed from French
- Italian unadapted borrowings from French
- Italian terms derived from French
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ɛ
- Rhymes:Italian/ɛ/2 syllables
- Rhymes:Italian/e
- Rhymes:Italian/e/2 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian indeclinable nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian masculine nouns
- Polish terms borrowed from French
- Polish unadapted borrowings from French
- Polish terms derived from French
- Polish doublets
- Polish 2-syllable words
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Polish terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Polish/iʂɛ
- Rhymes:Polish/iʂɛ/2 syllables
- Polish lemmas
- Polish nouns
- Polish indeclinable nouns
- Polish terms spelled with É
- Polish neuter nouns
- Polish literary terms
- pl:Rhetoric
- Spanish terms borrowed from French
- Spanish terms derived from French
- Spanish 2-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/e
- Rhymes:Spanish/e/2 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- es:Printing
- es:Talking