How to Use hoary in a Sentence

hoary

adjective
  • He bowed his hoary head.
  • Clichés and hoary tropes abound.
    — James Parker, The Atlantic, 16 June 2026
  • The old model, showing spring clothes in fall and fall clothes in spring, has started to seem hoary.
    — Matthew Schneier, New York Times, 4 June 2018
  • Not the streaming platform’s third series ever to rely on that hoary trope.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • That hoary image remains compelling.
    — Sam Lipsyte, Curbed, 15 Dec. 2025
  • The current clash has raised all forms of hoary specters in a country that’s no stranger to anti-democratic coups and plots.
    — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 30 Sep. 2022
  • Nothing chic and nothing stuffy and nothing raw; not the blaring screens of sports bars, nor the hoary formica of busy dives.
    — John Cotter, New York Times, 20 June 2023
  • These species include big brown bat, silver-haired bat, eastern red bat, hoary bat, evening bat and eastern myotis.
    — Sheryl Devore, Lake County News-Sun, 23 Apr. 2018
  • The good news is that this could trigger a legal challenge to hoary Supreme Court precedents.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 21 Jan. 2021
  • Some of the hoarier contents will be discovered in the days to come, though not before both chambers whoop the thing through.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 22 Mar. 2018
  • The band shares hoary tales of substance abuse, desperate getaways and awkward crushes.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 19 Jan. 2024
  • The hoary old zombie drama has killed off perhaps the best character ever in this show’s entire eleven-year run.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes, 12 Apr. 2022
  • May any upcoming project break new ground, rather than sifting through the waste bin of decades of gay comedy and pulling out the hoariest bits.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 17 May 2026
  • The most recent, the hoary bat, is the only remaining native land mammal in Hawaii.
    — Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2023
  • We’re seated on one of the concrete benches near enough that our knees touch, both looking straight into the camera; both hoary and stern-eyed.
    — Mitchell S. Jackson, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2023
  • One of the best things about this show is, a lot of people are aware of my hoary old tricks, but a lot of audiences will be new to Esther.
    — Clark Collis, EW.com, 18 May 2021
  • Coen writes one-acts in the hoary tradition of vignettes, sketches, curtain-raisers.
    — Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2019
  • Paying for a tax cut today with the promise of tax increases or spending cuts down the road is a hoary old game in Congress.
    — Howard Gleckman, Forbes, 27 Oct. 2021
  • Roaring back to life to condemn the moral failings of others is a hoary theatrical device that’s as old as drama itself.
    — Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 17 June 2019
  • When Seppala's wife dies shortly thereafter, her demise is signified in hoary fashion by a shot of a light bulb burning out.
    — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Oct. 2019
  • The cold, hoary legacy of polar exploration depends on outsize characters—and good books.
    — Michael O’Donnell, WSJ, 24 Dec. 2020
  • As for the hoary assumption that princes of the Church whisper secrets to one another in a dead language, above our heads, please.
    — Nicholas Frankovich, National Review, 2 Jan. 2021
  • One comes to Sundance looking for novelty, for strangeness, for bold reimaginings of hoary forms.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • And Williams is a hoary veteran next to his squad-mate Lamine Yamal, who has yet to turn seventeen.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 29 June 2024
  • Cheatgrass, Canada thistle, hoary cress and emerald ash borer complete the top 5.
    — Phil Drake, USA TODAY, 22 Mar. 2018
  • Was Spree engineered to stoke that hoary old debate over whether films about violent misfits are too dangerous to watch?
    — Kate Knibbs, Wired, 12 Aug. 2020
  • Internet firms can learn a lesson or two from hoary old carbon-belchers like ExxonMobil on how to avoid them.
    — The Economist, 8 Aug. 2019
  • The liquid-crystal polymer ripstop shell made short work of hoary gusts, while ample loft left testers feeling invincible in the freezing cold.
    — Joe Jackson, Outside Online, 10 Nov. 2022
  • These hoary stereotypes have long been a part of the tradition of lucha libre — the country’s second-most-popular sport after soccer.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 20 Jan. 2023
  • Ditto the balanced budget amendment — a hoary and immature notion akin to ridding your kitchen of knives to ensure your children don’t wind up stabbing you to death.
    — James Poulos, Orange County Register, 17 June 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hoary.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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