stale

¹

[ steyl ]

adjective

, stal·er, stal·est.

1. not fresh; vapid or flat, as beverages; dry or hardened, as bread.

   Synonyms: insipid, sour, tasteless, hard

   Antonyms: fresh

2. musty; stagnant:

   stale air.

3. having lost novelty or interest; hackneyed; trite:

   a stale joke.

   Synonyms: uninteresting, common, old, stereotyped

4. having lost freshness, vigor, quick intelligence, initiative, or the like, as from overstrain, boredom, or surfeit:

   He had grown stale on the job and needed a long vacation.

5. Law. having lost force or effectiveness through absence of action, as a claim.

verb (used with or without object)

, staled, stal·ing.

1. to make or become stale.

stale

²

[ steyl ]

verb (used without object)

, staled, stal·ing.

1. (of livestock, especially horses) to urinate.

stale

¹

/ steɪl /

verb

1. intr (of livestock) to urinate

noun

1. the urine of horses or cattle

stale

²

/ steɪl /

adjective

1. (esp of food) hard, musty, or dry from being kept too long
2. (of beer, etc) flat and tasteless from being kept open too long
3. (of air) stagnant; foul
4. uninteresting from overuse; hackneyed

   stale clichés

5. no longer new

   stale news

6. lacking in energy or ideas through overwork or lack of variety
7. banking (of a cheque) not negotiable by a bank as a result of not having been presented within six months of being written
8. law (of a claim, etc) having lost its effectiveness or force, as by failure to act or by the lapse of time

verb

1. to make or become stale

Derived Forms

• ˈstaleness, noun
• ˈstalely, adverb

Other Words From

• stalely adverb
• staleness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stale¹

1250–1300; Middle English; akin to Middle Dutch stel in same sense; perhaps akin to stand or to stale ²

Origin of stale²

1400–50; late Middle English stalen to urinate; cognate with German stallen, Danish stalle, Norwegian, Swedish stalla

Word History and Origins

Origin of stale¹

C15: perhaps from Old French estaler to stand in one position; see stall ¹; compare Middle Low German stallen to urinate, Greek stalassein to drip

Origin of stale²

C13 (originally applied to liquor in the sense: well matured): probably via Norman French from Old French estale (unattested) motionless, of Frankish origin; related to stall ¹, install

Example Sentences

Less urgently, the Trump thing is also very stale narratively—if ever there were a case of not needing a sequel!

From Slate

His four-year spell at Wolves ended as things went stale at Molineux and the squad was unable to maintain their spectacular rise from the Championship to the Europa League quarter-finals.

From BBC

But perhaps property values are just where the mind wanders when the story playing out is so treacly and stale.

From Los Angeles Times

When we think about this, we might picture moldy fruit, stale bread and overly full fridges.

From Salon

We have so much potential and I feel like things just became real stagnant, very stale.

From Salon

Related Words

• corny
• dull
• hackneyed
• shopworn
• threadbare
• tired