adjective
- having the nap worn off so as to lay bare the threads of the warp and woof, as a fabric, garment, etc.
- wearing threadbare clothes; shabby or poor: a threadbare old man.
- meager, scanty, or poor: a threadbare emotional life.
- hackneyed; trite; ineffectively stale: threadbare arguments.
adjective
- (of cloth, clothing, etc) having the nap worn off so that the threads are exposed
- meagre or poora threadbare existence
- hackneyeda threadbare argument
- wearing threadbare clothes; shabby
adj.mid-14c., from thread (n.) + bare. The notion is of “having the nap worn off,” leaving bare the threads.