moth-eaten

adjective

ˈmȯth-ˌē-tᵊn How to pronounce moth-eaten (audio)
Definition of moth-eatennext
1
as in obsolete
having passed its time of use or usefulness moth-eaten scientific theories that no one's believed in ages

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dilapidated
showing signs of advanced wear and tear and neglect a man who's been wearing the same moth-eaten clothes for decades

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in stereotyped
used or heard so often as to be dull an uncle who tells the same moth-eaten stories every Thanksgiving

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for moth-eaten
  1. obsolete
  2. dilapidated
  3. stereotyped
  4. archaic
  5. neglected
  6. tired
  7. antiquated
  8. hackneyed
Adjective
  • Whether machines can make conventional money obsolete remains an open question.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Advertisement That prescription has rankled many cybersecurity experts who scoff at the possibility that their expertise will be rendered obsolete.
    — Harry Booth, Time, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of obsolete
Adjective
  • Foreign buyers and investment funds have pushed up prices by buying Portuguese properties, including dilapidated buildings.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 27 Oct. 2026
  • And the theater where Penélope Cruz’s Nené performs cabaret for the Nationalist troops was a dilapidated cinema that had been closed since the 1950s.
    — Elaina Patton, Vogue, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of dilapidated
Adjective
  • Despite their outer appearances and oftentimes stereotyped personalities, the ladies embrace each other’s depths and contradictions.
    — Meagan Jordan, VIBE.com, 10 July 2026
  • This is a directed, stereotyped behavior in which the highest-resolution region of the somatosensory surface is brought to bear on the object requiring the most detailed analysis.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 20 May 2026
Definition of stereotyped
Adjective
  • In our era of incessant texting, the concept of these radio missives struck me as both archaic and romantic.
    — Jordan Salama, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The archaic legal restrictions restricting same-sex couples or unmarried women, for example, are acknowledged and adhered to, rather than being openly challenged or criticized.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of archaic
Adjective
  • Investors and analysts are increasingly looking to other parts of the market, both to find neglected sources of value and to start assuming a defensive posture against a possible downturn.
    — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 16 July 2026
  • Changing their environment is more reliable and more neglected.
    — Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026
Definition of neglected
Adjective
  • And most of us are tired of paying for the playthings of millionaires and billionaires.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Airbnb guests who are tired of spending the final hour of their vacation stripping beds and scrubbing pans are about to get a break.
    — Lena Borrelli, Fortune, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of tired
Adjective
  • According to firefighters, the department’s flood response was also limited by an antiquated dispatch system.
    — Abe Streep, ProPublica, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Plaintiffs challenging the prohibition on home distilling claim the 1868 law is an antiquated relic of Reconstruction-era politics.
    — Michael Kunzelman, Fortune, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of antiquated
Adjective
  • The hackneyed ruminations on feminine style are punctured by an image of violent female rage.
    — Leslie Camhi, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2026
  • There’s some hackneyed dialogue, much of it borne by Neeson, who despite his prominence in advertising gets sidelined for most of the running time.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of hackneyed
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

mothballs
moth-eaten
mother
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Moth-eaten.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/moth-eaten. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of reticent

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All