# threadbare

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈθɹɛdbɛə/ · frequency rank #57,770

## Definitions
1. Of cloth, clothing, furnishings, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show; shabby, worn-out.
2. In poor condition; damaged, shabby; also, poorly equipped or provided for, inadequate, meagre, scanty.
3. Of an argument, excuse, etc.: used so often that it is no longer effective or interesting; banal, clichéd, trite.
4. An argument or assertion with little in the way of substance or supporting evidence.
5. Of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare (sense 1) material; hence, impoverished, poor.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *bʰosós
From Middle English thred-bar, thred-bare (“of cloth, clothing, etc.: worn to such an extent that the warp and weft threads show, shabby, worn-out; (figurative) inadequate, poor”) [and other forms], from thred (“piece of textile twine”) (from Old English þrǣd (“thread”), from Proto-Germanic *þrēduz (“thread; twisted fibre”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to drill, pierce; to rub; to turn, twist”)) + bar, bare (“naked, unclothed, bare; not covered”) (from Old English bær (“naked, bare; unconcealed”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“naked, bare”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰosós (“bare; barefoot”)). The English word is analysable as thread + bare.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/threadbare