cliché

• cliche

Borrowed from French cliché.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkliːʃeɪ/
• Rhymes: -iːʃeɪ
• (General American) enPR: klē-shāʹ, IPA^(key): /kliˈʃeɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Hyphenation: cli‧ché

cliché (plural clichés)

1. 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

2. (printing) A stereotype (printing plate).

• The alternative spelling cliche may be used without confusion, as there is no other word in English with this spelling. (Contrast résumé, resumé.)

cliché (comparative more cliché, superlative most cliché)

1. (sometimes proscribed) Clichéd; having the characteristics of a cliché.

cliché (third-person singular simple present clichés, present participle clichéing, simple past and past participle clichéd or (rare) clichéed)

1. (ambitransitive) 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.

• chicle

Borrowed from French cliché.

• IPA^(key): /kliˈʃeː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cli‧ché
• Rhymes: -eː

cliché n (plural clichés, diminutive clicheetje n)

1. a cliché
2. an unoriginal work
3. a printing plate, a stereotype

• clichématig

• Afrikaans: cliché
• → Indonesian: klise

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.

• IPA^(key): /kli.ʃe/

• Audio:

  (file)

cliché m (plural clichés)

1. (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.

2. (photography) negative
3. (by extension) snapshot

   prendre un cliché ― take a snapshot

4. (figurative) cliché; stereotype (overused phrase or expression)

   Synonyms: banalité, idée reçue, lieu commun, stéréotype

• “cliché”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• cliscè

Unadapted borrowing from French cliché.

• IPA^(key): /kliʃˈʃɛ/^**, /kliʃˈʃe/^**[1]
• Rhymes: -ɛ, -e

cliché m (invariable)

1. plate (printing)
2. cliché

• lecchi

Unadapted borrowing from French cliché. Doublet of klisza.

• IPA^(key): /kliˈʂɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: cli‧ché

cliché n (indeclinable)

1. (literary, rhetoric) cliché (overused phrase or expression)

   Synonyms: klisza, szablon

• cliché in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• clisé

Borrowed from French cliché.

• IPA^(key): /kliˈt͡ʃe/ [kliˈt͡ʃe]
• IPA^(key): /kliˈʃe/ [kliˈʃe]
• Rhymes: -e
• Syllabification: cli‧ché

cliché m (plural clichés)

1. (printing) cliché
2. (talking) cliché

   Synonym: tópico

• “cliché”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

• chicle