Make Your Point > Archived Issues > HACKNEYED
Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.
Hear it.
(Source)
"Hackney" is the name of a place in England where, centuries ago, you could rent a small horse for the day. By the year 1575 or so, people were referring to this horse-renting as "hackneying:" you'd "hackney" a horse, or rent it for the day.
Part of speech:
Pick the formal, semi-common word "hackneyed" when you want to insult or dismiss something as being boring, overdone, and unoriginal.
"And we haven’t even gotten to the plot yet: It’s your basic bad-guy-wants-to-take-over-the-world kinda thing. But even Whedon seems to recognize what a hackneyed premise that is, so he has a little fun with it."
Explain the meaning of "hackneyed" without saying "done to death" or "banal."
Fill in the blank: "It's a hackneyed notion that (something has to be a certain way)."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
1.
Opposites of HACKNEYED include
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |