Article outline

• 1.The notion of cliché
• 2.Four major classes of clichés
  • 2.1Clichés with a specific concrete referent: Proper nicknames (or descriptive complex proper names)
  • 2.2Clichés with a generic concrete referent: Termemes
  • 2.3Clichés with a specific abstract referent: Routine formulas, or formulemes
  • 2.4Clichés with a generic abstract referent: Sentencemes (from Lat. sententia ‘saying, maxim’)
• 3.Lexicographic description of clichés
• Notes