cliché
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
cliché (plural clichés)
- 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.
- (printing) A stereotype (printing plate).
Usage notes
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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Adjective
cliché (comparative more cliché, superlative most cliché)
- (proscribed) clichéd; having the characteristics of a cliché
Verb
cliché (third-person singular simple present clichés, present participle clichéing, simple past and past participle clichéd or (rare) clichéed)
- (transitive, intransitive) 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:
- He clichéd at me. He clichéd at me in a perky, condescending tone.
Anagrams
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kliˈʃeː/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: cli‧ché
- Rhymes: -eː
Noun
cliché n (plural clichés, diminutive clichétje n)
- A cliché.
- An unoriginal work.
- A printing plate, a stereotype.
Derived terms
French
Etymology
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.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kli.ʃe/
Audio (file)
Noun
cliché m (plural clichés)
- (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.
- (photography) negative
- (by extension) snapshot
- prendre un cliché ― take a snapshot
- (figurative) cliché; stereotype (overused phrase or expression)
- Synonyms: banalité, idée reçue, lieu commun, stéréotype
Descendants
- → Catalan: clixé
- → Czech: klišé
- → Danish: kliché, kliche
- → English: cliché
- → Estonian: klišee
- → Finnish: klisee
- → Galician: clixé
- → German: Klischee
- → Hungarian: klisé
- → Icelandic: klisja
- → Macedonian: клише́ (klišé)
- → Portuguese: clichê, cliché (unadapted form)
- → Russian: клише́ (klišé)
- → Serbo-Croatian: klìšē/клѝше̄
- → Slovak: klišé
- → Slovene: kliše
- → Spanish: cliché
- → Turkish: klişe
Further reading
- “cliché”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Alternative forms
- cliscè
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kliʃˈʃɛ/**, /kliʃˈʃe/**[1]
- Rhymes: -ɛ, -e
References
- cliché in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Anagrams
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kliˈʂɛ/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -iʂɛ
- Syllabification: cli‧ché
Noun
cliché n (indeclinable)
Further reading
- cliché in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Spanish
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kliˈt͡ʃe/ [kliˈt͡ʃe]
- Rhymes: -e
- Syllabification: cli‧ché
Further reading
- “cliché”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014