stale
Other forms: staled; stales; staler; stalest; staling; stalely
If something is stale, it's no longer fresh. Ever bite into a piece of bread that's been left out a little too long? Chances are it's stale, or dry and hard to eat. Try making some croutons out of it.
The word stale comes from the Old French estaler meaning "to halt," which is what happens to your jaw when you try and bite down on a piece of stale bread — it just can't chew through it. But stale isn't a word that's used only when talking about food. When an idea is stale, it's old or boring. And when a horse stales, it's not old and crusty, it's urinating. Step aside.
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lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration from age“stale bread”
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synonyms:
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addled
(of eggs) no longer edible
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bad, spoiled, spoilt
(of foodstuffs) not in an edible or usable condition
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cold
having lost freshness through passage of time
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day-old
not fresh today
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hard
dried out
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flyblown, maggoty
spoiled and covered with eggs and larvae of flies
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limp, wilted
not firm
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moldy, mouldy, musty
covered with or smelling of mold
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rancid
(used of decomposing oils or fats) having a rank smell or taste usually due to a chemical change or decomposition
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rotten
having decayed or disintegrated; usually implies foulness
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corrupt, tainted
touched by rot or decay
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putrid
in an advanced state of decomposition and having a foul odor
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putrescent
becoming putrid
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old
of long duration; not new
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unoriginal
not original; not being or productive of something fresh and unusual
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antonyms:
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fresh
recently made, produced, or harvested
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caller
fresh
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crisp
pleasingly firm and fresh
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fresh-cut
cut recently
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good, undecomposed, unspoiled, unspoilt
not left to spoil
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hot
newly made
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new-made
newly made
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strong, warm
freshly made or left
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new
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
- show more antonyms...
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addled
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lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new“stale news”
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synonyms:
cold, dusty, moth-eaten
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unoriginal
not original; not being or productive of something fresh and unusual
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unoriginal
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urinate, of cattle and horses
/steɪl/
/steɪl/
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Vocabulary lists containing stale
Written in free verse, this Newbery Medal-winning novel details the struggles of an Oklahoman teenager during the dust-filled years of the Great Depression.
While exploring an unfamiliar house, four siblings discover a portal to the mystical kingdom of Narnia, a perpetually frozen land under the control of a powerful witch.
Kambili and Jaja's life among the elite in Nigeria isn't so easy under the thumb of their oppressive father. When the country becomes mired in political turmoil, they are sent to stay with their aunt, where they learn a different way of life.