Standard Lemma guide

threadbare

adj · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈθɹɛdbɛə/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /-bɛː/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈθɹɛdˌbɛ(ə)ɹ/
  • CMU ARPABET: TH R EH1 D B EH2 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of cloth, clothing, furnishings, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show; shabby, worn-out.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

In poor condition; damaged, shabby; also, poorly equipped or provided for, inadequate, meagre, scanty.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: awanting, deficient, dismal, exiguous, geason, inadequate, insufficient, lank, lean, lousy, meager, measly, paltry, poor, raunchy, scant, scantling, scanty, scarce, skimpy, sleazy, slender, spare, sparse, threadbare, unsatisfactory, unsufficient, wanting, wanty

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Of an argument, excuse, etc.: used so often that it is no longer effective or interesting; banal, clichéd, trite.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: banal, bathetic, bromidic, cheesy, stock, clichéd, commonplace, corny, dog-eared, hackneyed, hoary, overdone, overused, overworked, pat, played out, shopworn, stale, threadbare, timeworn, tired, trite, warmed-over, well-worn

Antonyms: fresh, new, all-new, brand new, brand spanking new, cherry, freshly made, green, hot, mint, nascent, newish, new-laid, novel, pristine, red-hot, unused, verdurous, virgin, virginal, youthful

4

adj

Meaning 4

An argument or assertion with little in the way of substance or supporting evidence.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: awanting, deficient, dismal, exiguous, geason, inadequate, insufficient, lank, lean, lousy, meager, measly, paltry, poor, raunchy, scant, scantling, scanty, scarce, skimpy, sleazy, slender, spare, sparse, threadbare, unsatisfactory, unsufficient, wanting, wanty

Antonyms: none provided

5

adj

Meaning 5

Of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare (sense 1) material; hence, impoverished, poor.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: broke, down at heel, penniless, almsless, arm, badly off, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, boracic, broken, broker than the Ten Commandments, depauperate, destitute, dirt poor, disadvantaged, down and out, down on one's luck, down on one's uppers, empty-handed, farthingless, feeling the pinch, flat, goodless, groatless, hard up, impecunious, impoverished, in need, indigent, insolvent, lower-class, moneyless, necessitous, needy, oofless, pauperized, penurious, pinched, pok kai, poor, poor as a church mouse, poor as a rat, poor as Job, possessionless, poverty-ridden, poverty-stricken, shillingless, skint, stone-broke, stony-broke, strapped, stuck, threadbare, unwealthy, wealthless

Antonyms: bow-legged wi' brass, comfortably off, filthy rich, loaded, minted, moneyed, moneybags, of means, oofy, rich, rich as Croesus, rolling, rolling in dough, rolling in it, upper crust, wealthy, well-endowed, well-heeled, well off, well-to-do

6

adjective satellite

Meaning 6

repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • bromidic sermons
  • his remarks were trite and commonplace
  • hackneyed phrases
  • a stock answer
  • repeating threadbare jokes
  • parroting some timeworn axiom
  • the trite metaphor `hard as nails'

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: banal, commonplace, hackneyed, old-hat, shopworn, stock(a), timeworn, tired, trite, well-worn

Antonyms: none provided

7

adjective satellite

Meaning 7

having the nap worn away so that the threads show through

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • threadbare rugs

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

PIE word *bhosós From Middle English thred-bar, thred-bare (“of cloth, clothing, etc.: worn to such an extent that the warp and weft threads show, shabby, worn-out; (figurative) inadequate, poor”) [and other forms], from thred (“piece of textile twine”) (from Old English þrǣd (“thread”), from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz (“thread; twisted fibre”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh1- (“to drill, pierce; to rub; to turn, twist”)) + bar, bare (“naked, unclothed, bare; not covered”) (from Old English bær (“naked, bare; unconcealed”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“naked, bare”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhosós (“bare; barefoot”)). The English word is analysable as thread + bare.

Across languages

Translations

39 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: sürtük — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Bulgarian: износен (iznosen) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Bulgarian: овехтял (ovehtjal) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Catalan: gastat — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Catalan: tronat — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Dutch: versleten — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Finnish: kulunut — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Finnish: nuhruinen — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Finnish: nukkavieru — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • French: élimé — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • German: fadenscheinig — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Greek: ξεφτισμένος (xeftisménos) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Greek: φθαρμένος (ftharménos) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Irish: ar an bhfáithim — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Irish: barrchaite — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Irish: lom — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Irish: lomchaite — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Irish: scáineach — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Irish: scáinte — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Irish: smolchaite — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Latin: rallus — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Macedonian: и́зносен (íznosen) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Macedonian: и́злижан (ízližan) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Nahuatl: acacaxactic — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Norwegian Bokmål: loslitt — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Plautdietsch: beschieet — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Portuguese: puído — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Russian: изно́шенный (iznóšennyj) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Russian: обветша́лый (obvetšályj) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Russian: потёртый (potjórtyj) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Russian: ста́рый (stáryj) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Scottish Gaelic: lom — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Slovene: zguljen — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Spanish: raído — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Ukrainian: пошарпаний (pošarpanyj) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Ukrainian: потертий (potertyj) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Ukrainian: зношений (znošenyj) — of cloth, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show — see also shabby, worn-out
  • Finnish: nuhruinen — of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare material
  • Norwegian Bokmål: loslitt — of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare material