1
as in dilapidated
showing signs of advanced wear and tear and neglect
bought a threadbare couch at a garage sale
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cliche
used or heard so often as to be dull
a novel filled with nothing but threadbare clichés
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in tattered
worn or torn into or as if into rags
I loved that threadbare shirt, but after 10 years of wear, it was time to throw it away
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
never knew that she had so many threadbare relatives until she won the lottery
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of threadbare
The interior of the offensive line is threadbare, with question marks at center and one guard spot.
—
Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 16 Dec. 2024
But as ProPublica reported this year, court oversight of these officials is threadbare.
—Jake Pearson, ProPublica, 8 Nov. 2024
In the late ’70s, Hooper’s movie had made its way from first-run theaters to the threadbare drive-ins of New England.
—Chris Nashawaty, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Oct. 2024
Nonprofits offer a wide but threadbare safety net Across the U.S., nonprofit agencies offer a range of services to people who are homeless, including shelter, housing, rehabilitation, job training and counseling.
—Morvarid Rahmani, The Conversation, 25 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for threadbare
Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 16 Dec. 2024
But as ProPublica reported this year, court oversight of these officials is threadbare.
—Jake Pearson, ProPublica, 8 Nov. 2024
In the late ’70s, Hooper’s movie had made its way from first-run theaters to the threadbare drive-ins of New England.
—Chris Nashawaty, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Oct. 2024
Nonprofits offer a wide but threadbare safety net Across the U.S., nonprofit agencies offer a range of services to people who are homeless, including shelter, housing, rehabilitation, job training and counseling.
—Morvarid Rahmani, The Conversation, 25 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for threadbare
Recent Examples of Synonyms for threadbare
Adjective
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That sounds logical, but a healthy housing market needs some extra properties to account for old or dilapidated homes that are demolished or taken out of use – not to mention some vacancies so people can move around.—
Andrea Riquier,
USA TODAY,
14 Feb. 2025
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The hotel is founded and managed by locals, who transformed a dilapidated bed-and-breakfast into a six-acre luxury hotel in 2001.—
Maya Kachroo-Levine,
Travel + Leisure,
10 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The other traditional party, the Liberal Party, has splintered between those who remain loyal to Zelaya and those who led the coup, including Mauricio Villeda, the presidential candidate who leads a tattered vestige of his party.—
Dana Frank,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Nov. 2013
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What if standing up to Trump is the very thing that saves the Liberal Party, and Trudeau’s tattered legacy?—
Talib Visram,
TIME,
7 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Three generations of the Kim family have created a politically repressed and economically impoverished state that is nonetheless a pivotal actor on the global stage.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Feb. 2025
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Now with all these things vanished, along with the bookstores and repertory cinemas, the city seems impoverished and disfigured.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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This was to help end the puppy mill industry, where dogs are bred en masse, leading them to be born and raised in filthy and neglected conditions.—
Andrew Sheeler,
Sacramento Bee,
12 Feb. 2025
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If coordinated correctly, Trump’s tariff threats offer an enormous opportunity for America’s neglected waterfront.—
Craig Hooper,
Forbes,
17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Tragedies can be examined by those outside of its sphere of destruction, but the groundswell of feeling from Mexican viewers and critics is that there was little or no care taken to understand the cultural grief beyond stereotyped spectacle.—
Lucy Ford,
TIME,
24 Jan. 2025
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Founded by artists who grew up in Maryvale, Salcido said the purpose of Labor is to be the bridge that shows the artistic capacity and potential of Maryvale because the neighborhood is too often stereotyped, underrepresented and ignored.—
David Ulloa Jr,
The Arizona Republic,
6 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Doncic had a ragged shooting night, making 6 of 17 field goal attempts and 1 for 7 from 3-point range.—
Jim Alexander,
Orange County Register,
26 Feb. 2025
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Put all those elements together and Spurs are suddenly a very different prospect from the exhausted, ragged group that trudged from game to game not very long ago.—
Jack Pitt-Brooke,
The Athletic,
24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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And another research team, using data from 2015 to 2022, observed in an article available in Energy Research and Social Science that poor income distribution correlates with social unrest when fossil fuel subsidies are removed.—
Aldo Flores-Quiroga,
Forbes,
1 Mar. 2025
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And poor work conditions can hurt morale in any field.—
Jeff Weiner,
Axios,
28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Markets grow tired of tariff changes U.S. stocks tumbled Thursday on tariff flip-flop fatigue.—
Yeo Boon Ping,
CNBC,
7 Mar. 2025
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Sleep deprivation comes with real costs Chronic sleep deprivation does more than leave people tired.—
Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse,
The Conversation,
7 Mar. 2025
Articles Related to threadbare
Cite this Entry
“Threadbare.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/threadbare. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
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