threadbare

/ˌθrɛdˈbɛər/

/ˈθrɛdbeɪr/

Those jeans you wear every day that have holes in the knees and thin patches in the rear? They're threadbare. Threadbare means "thin from overuse."

Furniture, clothing, or a rug is threadbare if the fabric is thin and worn through. If your father tells the same jokes over and over again, you might accuse him of having a threadbare sense of humor. A friend who chooses to live a threadbare lifestyle doesn't have a lot of things, and what they do have is not in the best of shape. When you see this word, picture your childhood stuffed animal with the fur rubbed thin from too much cuddling.

Definitions of threadbare

1. adjective

   having the nap worn away so that the threads show through
   “threadbare rugs”

   synonyms:

   worn

   affected by wear; damaged by long use
2. adjective

   repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
   “repeating threadbare jokes”

   synonyms: banal, commonplace, hackneyed, old-hat, shopworn, stock, timeworn, tired, trite, well-worn

   unoriginal

   not original; not being or productive of something fresh and unusual