trite

See also: трите

English

WOTD – 19 November 2015

Pronunciation

• enPR: trīt, IPA^(key): /tɹaɪt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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• Rhymes: -aɪt

Etymology 1

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin trītus "worn out," a form of the verb terō (“I wear away, wear out”).

Adjective

trite (comparative triter, superlative tritest)

1. Often in reference to a word or phrase: used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective; worn out, hackneyed.
   • 1897, W. B. Kimberly, History of West Australia : A Narrative of Her Past together with Biographies of Her Leading Men:

     It is a trite saying in a young country that anyone starting out in life with the determination to become wealthy will have his wish gratified.

   • 1994, Anthony Bergin, “The High Seas Regime – Pacific Trends and Developments”, in James Crawford, Donald R. Rothwell, editors, The Law of the Sea in the Asian Pacific Region: Developments and Prospects, Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, →ISBN, page 183:

     It is trite history – and trite law – to say that the law of the sea since that time [World War II] reflects a history of coastal State expansion.

   • 2007, Danielle Corsetto, Girls with Slingshots: 267:

     McPedro the cactus: How to woo a woman! On yehr fahrst date, don’t bring her cut flowers! That’s inhumane! And trite!

2. (law) So well established as to be beyond debate: trite law.
   • 2017, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Taucar v Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, 2017 ONSC 2604:

     It is trite to say that the mere fact that a decision does not favour the applicant or that the applicant disagrees with the decision does not establish that the decision is tainted with bias.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hackneyed

Translations

used so many times that it is commonplace, or no longer interesting or effective; worn out, hackneyed

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 陳腐／陈腐 (zh) (chénfǔ), 陈腐 (zh) (chénfǔ), 平凡 (zh) (píngfán)

• Czech: otřepaný m, vyčpělý m, banální (cs)
• Dutch: versleten (nl), afgezaagd (nl), banaal (nl)
• Finnish: kulunut (fi)
• French: banal (fr), trivial (fr), éculé (fr)
• German: banal (de), platt (de), nichtssagend (de), abgedroschen (de)
• Greek: τετριμμένος (el) m (tetrimménos), κοινότοπος (el) m (koinótopos)
• Hungarian: elkoptatott (hu), elcsépelt (hu), banális (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: triviala (io)
• Irish: seanchaite
• Japanese: 陳腐な (ja) (ちんぷな, chinpu-na), ありふれた (arifureta)
• Manx: ceaut, shenn-cheaut
• Portuguese: gasto (pt), banal (pt)
• Russian: бана́льный (ru) (banálʹnyj), изби́тый (ru) (izbítyj), зата́сканный (ru) (zatáskannyj), шабло́нный (ru) (šablónnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: otrcan (sh), banalan (sh), izlizan (sh)
• Spanish: manido (es), trillado (es), trivial (es), tópico (es) m, estereotipado (es) m
• Swedish: trivial (sv), sliten (sv), banal (sv), utsliten (sv), utnött (sv)

See also

• cliché

Etymology 2

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

trite (uncountable)

1. A denomination of coinage in ancient Greece equivalent to one third of a stater.
2. , a genus of spiders, found in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, of the family Salticidae.

Translations

denomination of ancient Greek coinage

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

spider genus

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Further reading

• Trite (spider) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• tetri, titer, titre

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Italian

Adjective

trite

1. feminine plural of trito

Anagrams

• retti, ritte, tetri

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Latin

Participle

(deprecated template usage) trīte

1. vocative masculine singular of trītus

References

• “trite”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• trite in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

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Tocharian B

Etymology

Compare Tocharian A trit

Adjective

trite

1. third