hoary
gray or white with age: an old dog with a hoary muzzle.
ancient or venerable: hoary myths.
tedious from familiarity; stale: Please don't tell that hoary joke at dinner again tonight.
Origin of hoary
1Other words for hoary
Other words from hoary
- hoar·i·ly, adverb
- hoar·i·ness, noun
- un·hoar·y, adjective
Words Nearby hoary
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use hoary in a sentence
Colleagues say Schumer’s hoary bromides and constant solicitousness mask a fierce intelligence–one smart enough to know that people prefer feeling like they’re being heard to feeling like they’re being led.
The Great Kibitzer: How Chuck Schumer Got the Senate Moving Again | Molly Ball | September 2, 2021 | Time“Canary in the coal mine” has become a hoary environmental saw.
I tried to avoid famously hoary puns like “Tequila Mockingbird” or “My Corona,” though I didn’t insist that some joke had never been made before by anyone ever.
This is just one of those cases when the hoary cliché is true.
Every president and political movement, of course, brings to power an often-hoary group of grasping interest groups.
The idea is an old one—or as the irritable Economist magazine calls it, “hoary.”
Here we taste a mingling of modern elegance and hoary antiquity, such as has never ere now graced life for either of us.
A Thin Ghost and Others | M. R. (Montague Rhodes) Jameshoary sires crept along on their staffs, followed by sons and sons' sons and daughters also.
God Wills It! | William Stearns DavisHe describes the storm sweeping over the white-crested mountains till the earth, like a hoary king, trembles with fear.
Sacred Books of the East | VariousOver the screen of trees you can see beautiful Delhi lying within its hoary walls.
Round the Wonderful World | G. E. MittonShe placed her hand lovingly on the edge of a hoary shutter.
The Opened Shutters | Clara Louise Burnham
British Dictionary definitions for hoary
/ (ˈhɔːrɪ) /
having grey or white hair
white or whitish-grey in colour
ancient or venerable
Derived forms of hoary
- hoarily, adverb
- hoariness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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