What does cliched mean?

Question

people say it when they talk about books and stuff. What the heck does it mean?

Answer 1

It means the book, storyline, characters, or whatever, have been used so often or are so old that people are tired of hearing it. For example, the phrase, "Get a life" no longer is a good insult because too many people over-used it.

Answer 2

A cliche is something that's been done so many times that all the freshness is gone. Sometimes it's the story, sometimes it's the style of writing. (It is possible to write a story that's been done hundreds of times over and do it in a fresh, interesting way.) Other times it's the language that's cliched, where every turn of phrase has been said to death in exactly those words.

Answer 3

It means you know part of the story before you read the book. For instance you know that every Greek tragedy everyone dies at the end, every Shakespearean comedy has misidentified characters. The homosexual cliche has the homosexual characters have a bad ending (usually death) so if you hear a story involving homosexuals, at least one of the characters will die or have something very bad happen to them.

Answer 4

From Merriam-Webster online:

cliche
One entry found for cliché.
Main Entry: cli·ché
Variant(s): also cli·che /klE-'shA, 'klE-", kli-'/
Function: noun
Etymology: French, literally, printer's stereotype, from past participle of clicher to stereotype, of imitative origin
1 : a trite phrase or expression; also : the idea expressed by it
2 : a hackneyed theme, characterization, or situation
3 : something (as a menu item) that has become overly familiar or commonplace
- cliché adjective

Answer 5

It means that it is a cliché, something that is overused to the point it doesn't have the impact it was intended to have. Something that has been used so many times, it's almost a joke.