adjective

• Of cloth, clothing, furnishings, etc.: frayed and worn to an extent that the nap is damaged and the warp and weft threads show; shabby, worn-out.
• (figurative)
• In poor condition; damaged, shabby; also, poorly equipped or provided for, inadequate, meagre, scanty.
• Of an argument, excuse, etc.: used so often that it is no longer effective or interesting; banal, clichéd, trite.
• (archaic or obsolete) Of a person: wearing clothes of threadbare (sense 1) material; hence, impoverished, poor.