Cliché
A cliché, in English is a phrase which is used too much. Originally, the word meant (in French) a stereotype plate, which is a term in printing.
A cliché is a stock expression used again and again. It has "lost its freshness and vigour through overuse, and suggests insincerity, lack of thought or laziness on the part of the writer".[1]
Examples
- leave no stone unturned
- none the worse for wear
- explore every avenue
- food for thought
- dead as a doornail
- avoid like the plague
- the name of the game
- the bottom line
- there's no smoke without fire
- from time immemorial
Style guides advise writers to avoid clichés.
Cliché Media
Extract from a cartoon by Priestman Atkinson, from the Punch Almanack for 1885, mocking clichéd expressions in the popular literature at the time
Using a feature such as an overhanging branch to frame a nature scene may be described as a visual cliché even though it also supplies scale.
References
- ↑ McArthur, Tom 1992. The Oxford companion to the English language. Oxford University Press, p222. ISBN 0-19-214183-X
