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cliché

cliché

noun klee-SHEH Rare

Also means

photographic negative (dated)

Usage Note

Cliché entered English directly from French, where it originally described a printer's stereotype plate; the figurative sense ('overused idea') developed from that. In modern French it is used in both senses freely. The adjective banal or the phrase c'est un cliché are the natural contexts.

Examples

"Ce film est plein de clichés."

Natural Translation

This film is full of clichés.

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