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.

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for chestnut
Noun
  • The channel presents videos of Adams traveling to various country clubs and using Jewish cliches to poke fun at golf’s historic exclusion of Jews.
    Ron Hurtibise, Sun Sentinel, 4 July 2025
  • The actor does his best to exude menace, but he’s hampered by a script filled with franchise cliches like an evil admiral (Peter Weller) and Kirk playing fast and loose with the Prime Directive.
    Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 30 June 2025
Noun
  • So, like many a bromide, there is a grain of truth to it.
    Tom Teicholz, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025
  • His trite bromides are typical of showbiz cretins struggling to appear principled.
    Armond White, National Review, 28 May 2025
Noun
  • It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story.
    Jann E. Freed, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
  • The Giants have one of the least-talented and most expensive offensive lines in the entire NFL There's an old NFL proverb that suggests games are won and lost in the trenches.
    Geoffrey Knox, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 June 2025
Noun
  • The platform exploded by tracking real-time reader behavior and story tropes — turning grassroots fanfiction into global publishing deals, Netflix originals and box office hits.
    Bogdan Nesvit, Rolling Stone, 9 July 2025
  • Trump previously appeared to indulge an antisemitic trope of Jewish people controlling things behind the scenes.
    Rebecca Schneid, Time, 5 July 2025
Noun
  • Practice creating and communicating narratives that balance today’s truisms with tomorrow’s opportunities.
    Camille Nicita, Forbes.com, 9 July 2025
  • Comments Lovers of Little Women must always face some truisms — Beth will die; Jo will reject Laurie and choose the professor.
    Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 11 June 2025
Noun
  • All platitudes aside, the Kentucky distillery really does make some fantastic whiskey, and two releases that always stand out are the annual 10 Year Old Bourbon and Rye—and the 2025 edition of the latter expression was just announced.
    Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 21 May 2025
  • Without this, Earth Day and its commitments will remain fixed in a state of surface-level notability—platitudes and small gestures that are forgotten until the next one rolls around.
    Jerel Ezell, Time, 22 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • As Don, the principal, tries to handle a looming crisis, using every banality at his new-age disposal, the conversation in the chat veers correspondingly out of control.
    Jesse Green, New York Times, 17 Dec. 2024
  • Over hard hip-hop beats and snarling guitar distortion, Gordon stammered about daily banalities, reframing modern life as a psychological war zone.
    Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 13 June 2025
Noun
  • Remember the old saying: Red and yellow, kill a fellow; red and black, friend of Jack.
    Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 11 July 2025
  • As the saying goes, crisis represents both danger and opportunity.
    Preston Fore, Fortune, 10 July 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.

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Cite this Entry

“Chestnut.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chestnut. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.

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