cornball
Americannoun
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popcorn rolled into a ball and flavored with molasses or caramel.
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Informal.
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a person who indulges in clichés or sentimentality.
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a country bumpkin; hick.
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adjective
noun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of cornball
1835–45, corn 1 + ball 1; cornball defs. 2, 3 influenced by slang sense of corn. Cf. screwball, oddball
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Once I noticed that the supermarket where I shop was churning out generic cornball Walmart country music to a staff that consisted almost entirely of Hispanic women.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 15, 2025
This episode’s cornball elements are on full display in its opening scene, as Axe’s forces break up a romance between two aristocratic aliens from different races.
From New York Times • Apr. 5, 2023
It just started feeling insincere and sort of corny and cornball.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2022
While the attendees' sporadic voiceovers border on cornball platitudes at times, there's no mistaking their pre-concert frenzy as wannabe concertgoers surrender their hopes to the whimsy of dial-up ticket services.
From Salon • Sep. 18, 2021
But if I had a girl like Kim, I'd probably be acting like a cornball too.
From "When I Was the Greatest" by Jason Reynolds
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
