STALE

[adjective] -r, -st - no longer new or fresh, usually as a result of being kept for too longShe threw the pieces of stale bread into the garden for the birds to eat.Coffee goes stale within a couple of weeks so it is best to buy it in small quantities.The morning after the party, their apartment smelled of stale cigarette smoke.(figurative) She felt their relationship had lost its initial excitement and had become stale and predictable.(figurative) He gave a boring speech full of stale jokes.(figurative) By the time he finally agreed to give an interview, the story was already stale news.(figurative) If a person is described as being stale, they have lost interest in what they are doing because they are bored or are working too hard.They had been working together for over five years and they had both become a little stale.People who work under a lot of pressure tend to get stale quickly.