as in cliche
an idea or expression that has been used by many people
An op-ed piece that offers nothing but warmed-over chestnuts for solving the city's financial woes.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chestnut
Noun
-
New novels are rightly praised for breaking with traditional forms and criticized for turning to stale formulas and cliches.—
Nathaniel Moore
September 10,
Literary Hub,
10 Sep. 2025 -
Just really not going to sit here and give some cliches.—
Bill Plunkett,
Oc Register,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
However, swapping out classic sodium chloride for sodium bromide is a solid way to give yourself acne, involuntary muscle spasms, and paranoid psychosis.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
14 Aug. 2025
-
Bromism, or high levels of bromide, was considered after a lab report and consultation with poison control, the report said.—
Doha Madani,
NBC news,
14 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Instead, Jeffrey Gahler has turned budget hearings into a sideshow by attacking McCord for scribbling a French version of a familiar proverb during an April meeting.—
Aegis reader commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
21 Aug. 2025
-
In West African traditions, the drum serves as both a musical instrument and a talking messenger, transmitting proverbs, praises, and official announcements in a language that reinforces the chief’s authority and the community’s history.—
Felicia Appenteng,
semafor.com,
18 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
While not specifically speculative fiction, the nonfiction narratives that students both read and produce serve as counter-narratives to the oppressive and harmful tropes in media more generally about Black girls and girlhood.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
10 Sep. 2025
-
His jubilation that a serial killer might be loose in town is a familiar, and perhaps accurate, journalistic trope—bad for the world; good for the media—but not one that reflects well on the profession.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
There is a truism that a good place to live is a good place to visit—and that relationship often creates a virtuous cycle of development.—
Jasmine Laws,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Aug. 2025
-
The 2025 session put a bit of a wrinkle in that truism.—
John C. Moritz,
Austin American Statesman,
30 July 2025
Noun
-
The accounts team logs in right on time, and the stupid dance of platitudes that precedes every meeting at every company around the world begins.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Sep. 2025
-
Surreal flashbacks show us how Teddy’s ill mom (Alicia Silverstone) suffered at the hands of Michelle’s company, how the empty corporate platitudes offered in exchange for his family’s horror merely confirmed his belief that there was more to what was being said and what had been done.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
28 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Bigelow’s work is procedural to its core, and that this film is a speculative what-if is made all the more horrifying because of its banality.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
2 Sep. 2025
-
If Berríos and Eichmann had different personalities, for me ‘Black Cocaine’ is a film about the banality of evil versus total evil.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
25 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
With $15 and a short saying, Missourians can buy custom tags for their car or truck.—
Eleanor Nash,
Kansas City Star,
10 Sep. 2025
-
There is a saying that each time memory is recalled and re-told the memory is replaced by the memory of the memory.—
Vineer Bhansali,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Chestnut.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chestnut. Accessed 14 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share