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🥖 Loss of freshness 🪨 Lack of originality 💾 Outdated data
staleness

staleness

1 3.9
Food, air, or other things that are no longer fresh and smell bad
  • noun
  • /ˈsteɪlnəs/
translation icon : rancio
  • You could taste the staleness of the crackers after they had been opened for weeks.

Examples

  • I'll take two loaves and pay half price due to the staleness.

    Waking Ned (1998)

  • Like I said, when you smell that staleness, it's not very, very.

  • The staleness of the bread was evident when I tried to make a sandwich.

  • The staleness of the air in the abandoned building made it hard to breathe.

Synonyms

stale air
vsstaleness
2 2.8

Air that smells old and feels heavy

is a broad quality that applies beyond just atmospheres
mustiness
vsstaleness
1 7.2

A stale, slightly moldy smell or taste in old damp things

is a general loss of freshness, purity, or interest
musty air
vsstaleness
1 4.2

Air that smells stale and damp in a closed room

is broader, applying to many things that lose freshness, not only damp spaces
fustiness
vsstaleness
8.6

A stale, musty smell in a room or object

focuses on general loss of freshness rather than fashion or smell alone

Antonyms

vitality
16 4.6

Ability of a living thing to survive and grow

freshness
15 1.0

The state of being new and clean, not stale or spoiled

How Fresh

freshness
15 1.0
oldness
1 4.0
staleness
1 3.9
spoilage
3 4.2
rancidity
  • Specialized
1 8.1

Surface Forms

staleness singular
stalenesses plural

Morphology

staleness = stale (transparent) = stale + ness

A literal nominalization expressing the condition of having lost freshness (e.g., food or air).

Etymology

Staleness comes from the word stale meaning 'not fresh' and the ending -ness that makes a noun. Just like 'stale bread' or the smell in a closed room, staleness is the loss of freshness, purity, or interest caused by age or exposure to air.