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• s  repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
  repeating threadbare jokes
• s  having the nap worn away so that the threads show through
  threadbare rugs

• His hair was tousled and his clothes were shabby and threadbare but his walk was confident.
• All bills go to the House-Senate conference committee, and the members dissect the bill threadbare.
• They insist that Raul, even if he does open Cuba's threadbare economy, is every bit the unacceptable tyrant Fidel is someone who promises more of the autocratic status quo than .

• banal
• commonplace
• hackneyed
• old-hat
• shopworn
• stock
• timeworn
• tired
• trite
• well-worn

News & Articles

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• A tea shop in Atlanta sends young women in India to college
  Katrell Christie stands behind the counter of her tea and coffee shop in Atlanta. Threadbare oriental carpets cover the marred concrete floor. Bookshelves line the walls, and secondhand tables with ancient lamps are scattered around. Sumptuous cakes and thick cookies are displayed under glass.
  June 24, 2013 - Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News
• A Challenge to the Idea That Income Can Integrate America's Campuses
  Affirmative action, in its threadbare form, lives for now. But there was enough in Monday's opinion to suspect it will be diminished further in time.        
  June 24, 2013 - The Atlantic Wire

Quotes

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• Kapil Sibal in Indian Express
  The Group of Ministers discussed threadbare issues before it and decided to meet again...... We will meet soon,HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters.
• David Nabarro in BBC News
  We are running on a threadbare, hand-to-mouth existence, and if the plight of these people in Darfur is as important to the international community as it seems to be, then we would have expected more long-term support,Mr Nabarro said.