trite

T1R1I1T1E1
UK/tɹaɪt/Canada, US[tɹʌɪt]Australia/tɹɑet/New Zealand[tɹɑe̯t]

adjective

used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective; worn out, hackneyed.

Similar
banalclichédplayed outbatheticbromidiccheesystockcommonplace
OriginLatin trītus →
Less commonScrabble 5
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Meanings

trite1

adjectivetrite (comparative triter, superlative tritest)

comparative triter · superlative tritest

  1. oftenused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective; worn out, hackneyed.

    This show is sensationally absurd and trite, and if you watch it, you know it.

    2025 April 3, Marina Hyde, “It’s With Love, Meghan – not just a TV show but a landmark piece of art. And not in a good way”, in The Guardian
    4 more examples

    It is a trite saying in a young country that anyone starting out in life with the determination to become wealthy will have his wish gratified.

    1897, W. B. Kimberly, History of West Australia : A Narrative of Her Past together with Biographies of Her Leading Men

    It is trite history – and trite law – to say that the law of the sea since that time [World War II] reflects a history of coastal State expansion.

    1994, Anthony Bergin, “The High Seas Regime – Pacific Trends and Developments”, in James Crawford, Donald R. Rothwell, editors, The Law of the Sea in the Asian Pacific Region: Developments and Prospects, Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, →ISBN, page 183

    Her people are equally simplistic and trite: evil outlaws, greedy opportunists and whores with hearts of gold.

    1999 November 2, Michiko Kakutani, “Books of The Times: A Single Girl Takes On the California Frontier”, in The New York Times (E section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7

    McPedro the cactus: How to woo a woman! On yehr fahrst date, don’t bring her cut flowers! That’s inhumane! And trite!

    2007, Danielle Corsetto, Girls with Slingshots: 267

    Synonyms: banal, clichéd, played out, banal, bathetic, bromidic, cheesy, stock

  2. lawSo well established as to be beyond debate: trite law.

    It is trite to say that the mere fact that a decision does not favour the applicant or that the applicant disagrees with the decision does not establish that the decision is tainted with bias.

    2017, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Taucar v Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, 2017 ONSC 2604

trite2

nountrite (plural trites)

plural trites

  1. A denomination of coinage in ancient Greece equivalent to one third of a stater.

trite3

nountrite (plural trites)

plural trites

  1. music theoryentertainmentIn Ancient Greek musical theory, the lower-pitched of the two movable notes in the farther tetrachord on a lyre, pitched lower than the paranete and higher than the paramese.

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective; worn out, hackneyed.

Similar
banalclichédplayed outbanalbatheticbromidiccheesystockclichédcommonplacecornydog-earedhackneyedhoaryoverdoneoverusedoverworkedpatplayed outshopworn

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiverepeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse

Similar
banalcommonplacehackneyedold-hatshopwornstockthreadbaretimeworntiredwell-wornunoriginal
Also see
banalcommonplaceestablishedhackneyhackneyedplayed outshopwornstalestockthreadbaretimeworntiredwarmed-overwell-worn

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

trite · adjective

  1. Latintrītus“worn out”
  2. Englishtrite

From Latin trītus (“worn out”), perfect passive participle of terō (“to wear away, wear out”).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

trite · noun

  1. Ancient Greekτρίτη
  2. Latintritē
  3. Englishtrite

Unadapted borrowing from Latin tritē, from Ancient Greek τρίτη (trítē, literally “third [string]”).

More words from Latin, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian изтъркан, банален
  • изтъркан (iztărkan)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • банален (banalen)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Chinese Mandarin 陳腐 /陈腐, 平凡
  • 陳腐 /陈腐 (chénfǔ)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • 平凡 (píngfán)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Czech banální, otřelý
  • banálníused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • otřelýused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • otřepanýused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • vyčpělýused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Dutch afgezaagd, banaal
  • afgezaagdused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • banaalused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • versletenused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Finnish banaali, kulunut
  • banaaliused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • kulunutused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • latteaused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
French banal, éculé
  • banalused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • éculéused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • trivialused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
German abgedroschen, banal
  • abgedroschenused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • banalused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • nichtssagendused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • plattused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Greek κοινότοπος, τετριμμένος
  • κοινότοπος (koinótopos)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • τετριμμένος (tetrimménos)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Hungarian banális, elcsépelt
  • banálisused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • elcsépeltused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • elkoptatottused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Irish seanchaite
  • seanchaiteused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Japanese ありふれた, 陳腐な
  • ありふれた (arifureta)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • 陳腐な (chinpu-na)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Norwegian trivielt
  • trivieltused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Portuguese banal, gasto
  • banalused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • gastoused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Russian бана́льный, изби́тый
  • бана́льный (banálʹnyj)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • изби́тый (izbítyj)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • шабло́нный (šablónnyj)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • зата́сканный (zatáskannyj)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Scottish Gaelic lom
  • lomused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Spanish manido, tópico
  • manidoused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • tópicoused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • trilladoused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Swedish banal, sliten
  • banalused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • slitenused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • trivialused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • utnöttused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • utslitenused so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
Ukrainian банальний, стоптаний
  • банальний (banalʹnyj)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • стоптаний (stoptanyj)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial
  • заїжджений (zajiždženyj)used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective — see also hackneyed, worn-out, stereotyped, trivial

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with trite

sitecopyrightrightnightlightwritemightquiteflightfightheightdespitetonightbrightsightovernightwrightknightinvitelitebyteslightfinitecite
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

trytetrytetryte

Anagrams

titretitertetri
Cite this entry
APA

trite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trite

MLA

“trite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trite. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “trite,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trite.

Source: trite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.