Threadbare

Quick meaning: Threadbare is an adjective meaning In poor condition; damaged, shabby; also, poorly equipped or provided for, inadequate, meagre, scanty.

Meaning

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

More Meanings

1. Of an argument, excuse, etc.: used so often that it is no longer effective or interesting; banal, clichéd, trite.
2. An argument or assertion with little in the way of substance or supporting evidence.
3. 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.
4. (archaic or obsolete) Of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare (sense 1) material; hence, impoverished, poor.

Example Sentences

His life vvas nigh vnto deaths dore yplaſte, / And thred-bare cote, and cobled ſhoes hee vvare, […]

VVill any Freedom here from you be born, / VVhoſe Cloaths are thred-bare, and vvhoſe Cloaks are torn?

Welth and wyt, I say, be so threde bare worne, / That all is without measure, and fer beyonde the mone.

Unkempt, in threadbare clothes, with holed shoes and sun-cured hide, my costume is permanent: the traveler, the man from far away.

Synonyms for threadbare

Depending on context, synonyms include awanting, deficient, dismal, exiguous, geason, inadequate.

Antonyms for threadbare

Common opposites include fresh, new, all-new, cherry, green, hot.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include worn, shopworn, well-worn, timeworn, tired, unoriginal.

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