stale

We didn't expect champagne, but this was stale beer.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Much like bread pudding — another of my favorite loaf-based forms — almost anything works here, especially if it’s stale enough, or toasted enough, to give you some real texture.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

“These missed opportunities allowed evidence to grow stale, witnesses to disappear or die. The older the case gets, the weaker it becomes.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

“I thought golf was a fairly stale and boring sport at the time,” Clark says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

It was entirely clean, as Mrs. Klein—a small and tidy woman—would have left it, but it had a stale smell from being shut up.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien

The debate over whether pineapple belongs on pizza is staler than a three-day-old Domino’s slice.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2022

“Under the Silver Lake” is rarely uninteresting, but it smells a little staler than it should.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2019

Don’t be fooled by the fancy packaging, though: Rarely in the history of Broadway has a bigger, staler nothingburger been served up than “Pretty Woman.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2018

Some schools use the staler options as a supplement to traditional teaching, while others rely on them to entirely supplant in-person instruction.

From Slate ● May 24, 2017

All this—all this about him—was like a bit of stale, flat, slightly greenish backwater—the big wheels churning away just beyond and paying it no attention, letting it grow staler and staler.

From Stubble by George Looms

The stalest reality show becomes, in her telling, a Talmudic feat: “There is a tribunal of scholars who teaches them how to sing!” she tells Shulem breathlessly.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 14, 2019

It opens with a fresh angle on one of the stalest scenes in music history, when Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2018

Luckily, so expert is Firth’s timing—like that of Emma Thompson, as Bridget’s obstetrician—that laughs, often of the rueful variety, can be conjured in the stalest scenes.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 16, 2016

When you compete in a multiplayer shooter and you are at a disadvantage until you unlock better weapons; that's the stalest of crust.

From The Verge ● Oct. 28, 2015

It was in his mind that he was about to hear the stalest story of all, but it was strange that he should hear it from her.

From Those Who Smiled And Eleven Other Stories by Perceval Gibbon

Traditionally, sourdough or challah that has staled a bit is used for French toast.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2022

As it staled, I toasted pieces under the broiler and dipped these into runny egg yolks.

From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2022

Hers features an any-nut frangipane you can slather onto staled panettone, croissants, brioche or even white bread and top with your choice of nuts and fruit.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 20, 2021

The clerk’s disinterest practically staled the air, their voice over the speaker the droning whine of a giant, bored nose.

From Slate ● May 29, 2018

If the Preacher really had staled Mr. Leroy’s money, seemed to me like he’d try to make hisself real hard.

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis

"The inclusion of legume flours slows staling associated with gluten-free breads due to the resistant starch content of legumes," said Lowe.

From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2022

Toasting had preserved the flavor, while staling had not.

From Salon ● Nov. 6, 2021

And from a wise Italian nonna, Antonietta Fazone, I learned that toasting bread, versus staling it on the counter overnight, it is preferable for preserving its flavor.

From Salon ● Nov. 6, 2021

The retrogradation of wheat starch in bread is responsible for staling.

From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2016

But isn’t he the big fool to be having it dangling where the wash of a wave, or a pickpocket, or a worse timptation than either might be staling it away from him?”

From We and the World, Part II A Book for Boys by Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing