stale
54
1.1
- adjective
- /steɪl/
- The bread was stale and hard, making it difficult to chew.
- stale bread
- stale air
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Watch on YouTubeYou were the green room carpet, the stale smell of beer.
- You were the green room carpet, the stale smell of beer.
- It's interesting, honestly, how stale the bread crumbs can be.
- They can sit on the shelf for months, growing stale and stale and still staler.
- Like, it's very bad for you to be breathing in your shitty, stale carbon dioxide.
- And like these stale crackers, every day it was grim.
- The worst is when you open a bag and it's stale.
- You're going to have to reapply those stale coffee grounds about once every three weeks because you know you don't.
Examples
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Adina served tea and stale cake left over from Sara's last visit two weeks ago.
Fiction book (1990) -
Their bread came from stores where poor people lined up to buy stale loaves baked days earlier.
Fiction book (1993) -
In case it got stale during the plane ride.
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I smell like stale coffee.
-
If it had been left out long, it would be stale all the way through.
Fiction book (1991) -
You should use stale bread for French toast.
-
We could smell the odor of stale beer three doors before we got there.
Fiction book (1993) -
The air is moving and tepid with the smell of stale beer and wet wool.
Fiction book (1992) -
A ceiling fan pushed eddies of hot, stale air around and around.
Fiction book (1992) -
Our home always smelled faintly of empty beer cans and stale cigarette smoke.
Synonyms
29
3.9
A stale, slightly damp smell like old things kept without fresh air
20
4.5
A bad, sharp smell or taste from spoiled oil
1
2.7
No longer fresh and unpleasant to eat
Having a stale, stuffy smell as if it has not been aired
Antonyms
Idioms
- Slur
A group that mostly has older white men and lacks diversity and new ideas
Compounds
How Stale
Surface Forms
Etymology
Stale is easy to picture: think of coffee or bread that has stayed out too long and lost its taste and softness. So stale means 'no longer fresh, pleasant, or good to eat'.