From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthreadbarethread‧bare /ˈθredbeə $ -ber/ adjective 1 CONDITION/STATE OF somethingclothes, carpets etc that are threadbare are very thin and in bad condition because they have been used a lot a threadbare old sofa2 → threadbare excuse/argument/joke etc
Examples from the Corpus
threadbare• The sheets lay tangled, hanging down on the threadbare carpet.• his threadbare cotton shirt• He was dressed in a scrupulously clean but threadbare dhoti and he wore a pale blue turban which exactly matched his eyes.• Despite her bleak background and threadbare, Dickensian sartorial habits, she certainly transmits an aura of elegance and gentility.• She stood shivering in her threadbare dress.• I preferred threadbare hand-me-downs to clothes that exuded boredom from every seam.• They basked like reptiles till the sun penetrated the threadbare material and warmed them into movement.• Increasingly, threadbare public-school systems are turning to parents for goods and services that taxpayers have stopped providing.• There was a clean but threadbare rug on the floor beside the bed.• Honor had written to ask for some threadbare rugs to be replaced. 