| No. | Item | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | aged | old and no longer fresh |
| 2. | ancient | very old and overfamiliar |
| 3. | banal | so common it seems boring |
| 4. | bland | lacking originality or excitement |
| 5. | bog-standard | completely ordinary and standard |
| 6. | boilerplate | standardized and overused wording |
| 7. | borrowed | taken from elsewhere; unoriginal |
| 8. | by-the-numbers | predictable and formulaic |
| 9. | canned | prepared and lacking originality |
| 10. | cliché-ridden | full of overused expressions |
| 11. | cliched | overused and unoriginal |
| 12. | commonplace | ordinary and lacking originality |
| 13. | conventional | following familiar old patterns |
| 14. | cookie-cutter | generic and formula-driven |
| 15. | copycat | imitative and unoriginal |
| 16. | corny | old-fashioned and unoriginal |
| 17. | cut-and-dried | fixed and lacking freshness |
| 18. | dated | old-fashioned and no longer fresh |
| 19. | derivative | copied from existing ideas |
| 20. | done to death | used far too often |
| 21. | dull | not interesting or original |
| 22. | dusty | old and no longer lively |
| 23. | exhausted | used up by repetition |
| 24. | expected | not surprising or original |
| 25. | faded | lost freshness or vividness |
| 26. | familiar | too well known to excite |
| 27. | flat | lacking freshness or force |
| 28. | forgettable | easily forgotten; not original |
| 29. | formula-bound | trapped in tired formulas |
| 30. | formulaic | following a tired pattern |
| 31. | fusty | stale, stuffy, and old |
| 32. | garden-variety | ordinary and unsurprising |
| 33. | generic | lacking distinctiveness or originality |
| 34. | hack | routine and unoriginal writerly |
| 35. | hackish | crudely conventional and unoriginal |
| 36. | hoary | ancient and overfamiliar |
| 37. | humdrum | dull, ordinary, and repetitive |
| 38. | imitative | copying others rather than original |
| 39. | insipid | lacking flavor, interest, or freshness |
| 40. | jejune | naively dull or superficial |
| 41. | mainstream | standard and unsurprising |
| 42. | manufactured | artificially produced; not original |
| 43. | me-too | imitative and lacking novelty |
| 44. | mechanical | done without originality or feeling |
| 45. | melodramatic | overdone in a familiar way |
| 46. | middlebrow | conventional and not adventurous |
| 47. | monotonous | tediously lacking variety |
| 48. | musty | stale and old-fashioned |
| 49. | obvious | lacking novelty or surprise |
| 50. | off-the-shelf | standard rather than original |
| 51. | old chestnut | an overused old idea |
| 52. | old-fashioned | belonging to an earlier time |
| 53. | old-hat | no longer new or interesting |
| 54. | outdated | behind the times; stale |
| 55. | outworn | worn out by long use |
| 56. | overused | used too often to impress |
| 57. | paint-by-numbers | mechanical and unoriginal |
| 58. | passé | no longer fashionable or fresh |
| 59. | pat | too neat and overfamiliar |
| 60. | platitude-filled | full of dull commonplaces |
| 61. | platitudinous | full of dull commonplaces |
| 62. | played-out | no longer fresh or effective |
| 63. | predictable | easy to foresee; unoriginal |
| 64. | prosaic | dull and lacking imagination |
| 65. | quotidian | ordinary and routine |
| 66. | ready-made | prepackaged and unoriginal |
| 67. | recycled | reused with little novelty |
| 68. | rehashed | reused in a stale way |
| 69. | repetitive | repeating without freshness |
| 70. | retread | reused and lacking novelty |
| 71. | rote | done by habit, not thought |
| 72. | routine | done the same old way |
| 73. | run-of-the-mill | ordinary and lacking distinction |
| 74. | same old | tediously familiar |
| 75. | secondhand | borrowed and lacking originality |
| 76. | shopworn | worn out by overuse |
| 77. | stale | no longer fresh or interesting |
| 78. | stereotyped | fixed and overused in form |
| 79. | stereotypic | overgeneralized and unoriginal |
| 80. | stock | commonly used and unoriginal |
| 81. | stodgy | dull and old-fashioned |
| 82. | templated | shaped by a standard form |
| 83. | thin | lacking substance or freshness |
| 84. | threadbare | overused and lacking freshness |
| 85. | timeworn | made dull by long use |
| 86. | tired | overfamiliar and uninspired |
| 87. | trite | lacking freshness through overuse |
| 88. | trivial | common and lacking significance |
| 89. | uninspired | showing little creativity or freshness |
| 90. | unoriginal | not fresh or inventive |
| 91. | unremarkable | not distinctive or original |
| 92. | unsurprising | not fresh or unexpected |
| 93. | vapid | dull and lacking liveliness |
| 94. | warmed-over | reused with little originality |
| 95. | washed-out | lacking freshness, force, or color |
| 96. | well-known | so known it feels stale |
| 97. | well-trodden | used often; no longer fresh |
| 98. | well-worn | used so often it’s stale |
| 99. | workaday | ordinary and lacking distinction |
| 100. | worn-out | used so much it’s dull |