banal

[buh-nal, -nahl, beyn-l]

adjective

1. devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite.

   a banal and sophomoric treatment of courage on the frontier.

banal

/ bəˈnælɪtɪ, bəˈnɑːl /

adjective

1. lacking force or originality; trite; commonplace

Other Word Forms

• banality noun
• banally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of banal¹

First recorded in 1745–55; from French, Old French: “pertaining to a ban”; equivalent to ban ² + -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of banal¹

C18: from Old French: relating to compulsory feudal service, hence common to all, commonplace; from ban _ban ²

Synonym Study

See commonplace.

Example Sentences

Yes, he was 88, but the Czech-born, British playwright, the true 20th century heir to Oscar Wilde, would never have arranged things so banally.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Even so, the kaleidoscope of tales and vignettes, and the blurring of the banal with the macabre, produces a dusky, dreamlike atmosphere that envelopes one’s thoughts like a fine mist.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It doesn’t help that Ms. Doucet’s prose, replete with stock expressions, is tiresomely banal.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Yet in a manner almost impossible to describe, he stood above or outside his banal and dull-witted persona.

Read more on Salon

There seemed to be something basic or banal about whiling away hours in the gym.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• bland 
• corny 
• dumb 
• hackneyed 
• mundane 
• stupid 
• trite 
• vapid