banality

[buh-nal-i-tee, bey-]

noun

plural

banalities 

1. the condition or quality of being banal, or devoid of freshness or originality.

   the banality of everyday life.

2. an instance of this.

   We sat around the dinner table exchanging banalities.

Word History and Origins

Origin of banality¹

First recorded in 1815–25; from French banalité, equivalent to banal ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )

Example Sentences

In hindsight, the moment feels like a Rosetta Stone for his political aesthetics: a kind of populist cosplay that collapses grandeur and banality into the same tableau.

From Salon

“Milkman” expertly exposes the alienation and paranoia of living in a city already riven by violence and the banality of gendered harm when there has been a larger societal breakdown.

From Los Angeles Times

A sweet moron, but a moron nonetheless, which is evident as soon as Pattinson starts squeaking banalities in a nasal gasp that sounds as though he’s never gotten enough oxygen to his brain.

From Los Angeles Times

Just as Allfrey’s photographs were “crowded with lifetimes,” so is Russell’s novel, a work suffused with the “mystery of kindness” and the banality of violence.

From Los Angeles Times

Everett speaks like a woman who recognizes the banality of the alternative.

From Salon

Related Words

• platitude