4. (Music, other) music a part of the action of a clavichord consisting of a small piece of metal that strikes the string to produce a note. 5. on a tangent at a tangent on a completely different or divergent course, esp of thought: to go off at a tangent.
Synonyms: clichÃ©, bromide, platitude, truism. These nouns denote an expression or idea that has lost its originality or force through overuse: a short story weakened by clichÃ©s; the bromide that we are what we eat; a eulogy full of platitudes; a once-original thought that is now a truism.
Originally a French term, coming from the verb clicher, which roughly means to stereotype. The extracted definition, as it's used today, is taken as something that's overdone, or an idea that was originally innovative, but has now grayed and grown tired from overuse.. It has fallen into wide use as a criticism device for film, literature, art, and even everyday phenomena.