weak inadequate unsatisfactory clumsy: a lame excuse. impaired or disabled through defect or injury: a lame arm. You might also know this as the fake fiancé trope-or any of its similar variations!) physically disabled, especially in the foot or leg so as to limp or walk with difficulty: a lame racehorse. (The classic example of a hackneyed tale is one in which someone enters a relationship for all the wrong reasons but then falls in love with their new partner. While you’re most likely to hear the word hackneyed used to describe a piece of writing, you can use it to describe anything that is overdone. That makes your use of the word hackneyed the very opposite of common and stale. Synonyms: cheap, contemptible, cruddy Antonyms: admirable, commendable, creditable Find the right word. In addition to being a great replacement for the l -word when you want to indicate boredom with something, hackneyed is not a word you hear often. (1) The condition of being unable or imperfectly able to walk, which unfitted any descendant of Aaron so afflicted for service in the priesthood (Leviticus 21. lames synonyms, lames pronunciation, lames translation, English dictionary definition of lames. Lame: arousing or deserving of one's loathing and disgust. (Yeah, there’s a complicated word history here, but it appears to be related to drudgery or horses being overworked.) The word is recorded 1740–50 and is based on hackney, a type of horse-drawn carriage. If it’s something you’ve done so many times that it’s become trite, common, or stale, you can also say it’s hackneyed. A lame person could be someone who has poor social skills. Check out our list of eight words that can describe anything boring, uncool, or commonplace. A very subjective term, usually describing someone who goes against someones way of thinking. Disabled so that movement, especially walking, is difficult or impossible: Lame from the accident, he walked with a cane. French, spangled, laminated, lam, from Old French lame, thin metal plate see lame2. Fortunately, there are plenty of words that you can use in place of the word lame. A shiny fabric woven with metallic threads, often of gold or silver. (Not cool, guys.)īut today, using the word lame to describe anything inherently undesirable can come off as hurtful, since it equates being injured or having a physical disability with being undesirable. A later, more specific meaning, was used to describe someone physically disabled, “especially in the foot or leg so as to limp or walk with difficulty.” By the 1300s, lame extended to refer to anything considered “defective,” and by the late 1800s, lame was being used to make fun of socially awkward or “uncool” people. L ame comes from an Old English word for “crippled, weak,” which was first recorded in 700s. While we cannot eliminate words just because we don’t like what they mean (or else we would suggest cutting a few others from the lexicon as well), we can stop using words whose meanings have morphed and changed so much over time that they have actually become offensive, like the word lame. There are plenty of words that should be retired this year (we nominate social distancing to become a phrase of the past as soon as humanly possible).