Connotations of trite, passé, and cliché

What are the differences between trite, cliché, and passé? They seem to all have a similar denotation, but what are the subtleties of their connotations?

The only difference I really see is that cliché is an expression that has become trite or passé, whereas trite and passé can be related to anything, e.g. ideas, words, fashion, etc.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Here are some example sentences from the Oxford English Corpus:

• I have come to the conclusion that he is a tired cliché in search of a point.
• Just my luck, I was being stalked by a tired cliché.
• You have written a cliché, a worn-out metaphor.

As with all questions of connotation, one must go by the evidence, and one can only make an educated guess. I would say that cliché has a negative connotation and, in keeping with its definition, is something over-used and well-worn.

• It seems almost trite to say it is a major disaster but it is difficult to find words to express the significance of this second attack.
• Quibbling about definitions of freedom is a trite response to a serious issue.
• This is more than the trite truism that there is a thin line between love and hate.

Trite definitely also has a negative connotation -- I think all these words do -- but it has an entirely different implication than cliché: something that is trite is something that is not deep or meaningful enough.

• What you think is in style one season may be viewed as passé the next, especially by the hardcore fashionistas.
• Most unpolished is the dialogue, which is often so clunky and forced that Rudnick smears the awkward moments with passé humor.
• Out in the seats I imagine we're all feeling the same fear -- that our jobs are drying up, that they can be done for a fraction of our wages by someone more desperate somewhere else, that our hard-won skills are passé.

Passé is used to show that something has passed its use-by date, that it was once appropriate and worthwhile, but is no longer. Again, it has a negative connotation, but refers to something that was once in widespread use, but should not be used today because it has lost its effectiveness. This is different from a cliché in that a cliché is most often a phrase, whereas anything can be passé.

These are just my interpretations of a very small set of data. Feel free to make your own.

I can give an insight as a French native speaker.

trite is not a French word an cannot really comment on its subtleties, but the roots of the words are the same than triviality.

Cliché comes from a photographic language. A cliché in French is simply a snapshot taken with your camera.

Passé is the name for the past. All things that has happened before belongs to the passé.

Te summarize, I'd make these distinctions:

• trite ~ superficial
• cliché ~ commonplace
• passé ~ outdated

Cliché is the most commonly used of these three words in American English. It's come to refer to a phrase or idea that has been encountered too often and is thus both unoriginal and unsatisfactory. A cliché-ridden speech will bore its listeners. A cliché ending to a story may disappoint an audience (though, if the genre is romantic comedy, it may well be exactly what the audience is looking for).

Of the other two words, trite is closest in meaning to cliché. It is generally used to refer to something that feels worn-out and dull, which accords with its root in the Latin verb meaning to rub/wear down.

The biggest difference I've observed between cliché and trite, aside from the fact that the latter is slightly less common, is that people periodically use trite as a synonym for boring or vapid, even if the subject hasn't specifically been encountered before. (This isn't correct, per se - something trite has, by definition, been encountered excessively - but it does occur.)

Additionally, things described as cliché are often intended to be sweet or sentimental and end up saccharine; things described as trite were more likely intended to be sincere and deep and end up sounding hollow.

Passé is rather different from these two words. A fair synonym is dated - something that was once fashionable (perhaps even quite recently), but no longer is. While phrases, images and ideas are often described as cliché or trite, the word passé is more often used to describe objects, fads or fashions. A story's ending would not be described as passé; heroin, on the other hand, might be.