insipid
Americanadjective
-
without distinctive, interesting, or stimulating qualities; vapid.
an insipid personality.
- Synonyms:
- uninteresting, dull, flat
-
without sufficient taste to be pleasing, as food or drink; bland.
a rather insipid soup.
- Synonyms:
- bland, tasteless, uninteresting, dull, flat
adjective
-
lacking spirit; boring
-
lacking taste; unpalatable
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of insipid
1610–20; < Latin insipidus, equivalent to in- in- 3 + -sipidus, combining form of sapidus sapid
Explanation
Something insipid is lacking in flavor or interest. You'll probably find the generic poems inside of greeting cards insipid. Insipid comes from the Latin insipidus, the opposite of sapidus which means flavorful. Because spices and salts are left out, hospital food is usually considered insipid. The most common use of the word is in a metaphorical sense for dull or flat. You might think that your goody-two-shoes cousin is the most insipid girl you've ever met.
Vocabulary lists containing insipid
Grade 10, List 4
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Negatives with "in"
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"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Insipid flavors of certain vegetables may be due to improper cooking.
From School and Home Cooking by Greer, Carlotta Cherryholmes
Insipid are the weekly themes Of ——'s imbecile review, Whose page with adulation teems, And makes me "beautifully blue."
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 548, May 26, 1832 by Various
Insipid and thready when it's cooked, you know, and has to have a lot of salt and pepper and butter to make it go down at all.
From A Voice in the Wilderness by Hill, Grace Livingston
I Shall not consider those Thoughts which are, in their own Nature, Vicious; as the Ambiguous, the Pointed, the Insipid, the Refined, the Bombast, and the rest.
From A Full Enquiry into the Nature of the Pastoral (1717) by Purney, Thomas
Insipid, therefore, as these postcards are in themselves, their effect here, on the battlefields, in the presence of our dead and wounded, is only calculated to cause disgust.
From Leaves in the Wind by Gardiner, A. G. (Alfred George)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
