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   stale

   /steɪl/

   adjective

   • 1. (of food) no longer fresh and pleasant to eat; hard, musty, or dry: "stale bread" Similar drydried outhardhardenedoldpast its bestpast its sell-by dateoffmouldyrottendecayedunfreshrancidrankOpposite fresh
   • ▪ no longer new and interesting or exciting: "their marriage had gone stale" Similar hackneyedtiredworn outoverworkedthreadbarewarmed-upbanaltritestockstereotypedclichédrun-of-the-millcommonplaceplatitudinousunoriginalderivativeunimaginativeuninspiredflatout of dateoutdatedoutmodedpasséarchaicobsoletedefunctantiquatedwarmed-overinformal:old hatcornyout of the arkplayed outpast their sell-by datehackyOpposite original
   • ▪ (of a person) no longer able to perform well or creatively because of having done something for too long: "a top executive tends to get stale"
   • ▪ (of a cheque or legal claim) invalid because out of date: "justifications for adverse possession go beyond stale claims"

   verb

   • 1. make or become stale: "she would cut up yesterday's leftover bread, staling now"

   Word Origin Middle English (describing beer in the sense ‘clear from long standing, strong’): probably from Anglo-Norman French and Old French, from estaler ‘to halt’; compare with the verb stall.

   Derivatives

   • 1. stalely adverb
   • 2. staleness noun

   Scrabble Points: 5

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   • T

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   • A

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   • L

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