Verified answer

Cliche = It's been done before so many times that it's now boring.

E.G Throwing a pie in a comedy.

Stereotype = Something that you assume about a race or group

E.G All Americans are fat.

A cliche is simply something that is outdated and has been overused in the past. Example, terms like "groovy" to indicate "good" is outdated and has been used too much in the past. I would call the term "groovy" a cliche.

A sterotype is a fictitious bias which generalizes certain characteristics, traits or attributes about something or someone or a group of individuals. It usually is disparaging in some manner. It usually is applied to all individuals in a group, class, ethnicity or race...without regard to individuality or individual differences. Making any kind of generalization without facts.

Statements like: All car salesmen are slickers (meaning, they are untrustworthy and shallow) is a sterotype. All black people are lazy. All men like to cheat on their wives. Women are bra burners.

All of the above statements are untrue, yet they are typically held to be true by some people who consider such sterotypical thinking as common sense or social wisdom although such generalizations typically lead to partisan warfare, anger, hatred, resentment - simply because nobody likes being cast as being unworthy...

So, a sterotype can be a cliche, yet a cliche is not always a sterotype. You have to look at the context of what is being said, to determine if they are separate or not.