Cliche

A cliché is an expression, idea, or device that has become unoriginal through overuse and conventionality. In everyday language, clichés convey familiar assumptions quickly because their meanings are well known to readers or listeners. In literature, film, and other media, clichés can function as shorthand, signaling genre conventions, audience expectations, or social norms.

The term cliché comes from the French word cliché, a printing term for a ready-made metal plate used to reproduce a repeated text or image. The word was adopted into English in the 19th century to describe phrases or ideas that felt fixed and worn from repeated use.

Clichés appear at several levels: phrased expressions such as generic openings, plot devices like the "damsel in distress," or settings that recur across works. They can reduce cognitive effort and speed comprehension, but they can also flatten characterization or undermine believability when overused or deployed without awareness of audience.

Critics view clichés as a symptom of lazy writing or thought, especially when they reinforce stereotypes or fail to engage the reader. Writers may deliberately employ or subvert clichés as satire or to acknowledge shared culture, or consciously replace them with precise, concrete language and original imagery.

Cultural and genre differences influence what counts as a cliché, and some phrases that seem commonplace in one era or community may feel fresh in another. A successful writer often aims to be aware of clichés, using them sparingly or twisting them to regain originality.

See also: trope, stereotype, figure of speech.