Cliché

Uncommon card · No. 145407

A cliché (UK: or US: ; French: [kliʃe]) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being bland or uninteresting. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning, referring to an expression imposed by conventionalized linguistic usage. The term, typically deployed pejoratively, is often used in modern culture for an action or idea that is expected or predictable, based on a prior event. Clichés may or may not express a truth. Some are stereotypes, but some are simply truisms and facts. Clichés often are employed for comedic effect, typically in fiction. Most phrases now considered clichéd originally were regarded as striking but have lost their force through overuse. The French poet Gérard de Nerval once said, "The first who compared a woman to a rose was a poet, the second an imbecile." A cliché is often a vivid depiction of an abstraction...

Read on Wikipedia