banality
Americannoun
-
banalities
plural
-
the condition or quality of being banal, or devoid of freshness or originality.
the banality of everyday life.
-
an instance of this.
We sat around the dinner table exchanging banalities.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of banality
First recorded in 1815–25; from French banalité, equivalent to banal ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )
Explanation
A banality is a trite, boring, or overused remark. That includes clichés like "life is short" and your basic small talk about the weather. Banalities are sayings that almost everyone uses, and because they're so well-known, they've lost all their power. These expressions are clichéd and many people find them annoying. "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade" is one good example. When you're writing or speaking, you're much better off trying to find fresh language because one tends to hear the same old banalities again and again.
Vocabulary lists containing banality
The Namesake
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All the Light We Cannot See
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Prairie Lotus
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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.
See Examples For:
On a never-ending feed we watch the cute and profane, sleepwalking toward an emotional state beyond shock as entertainment: the banality of passive consumption.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
The real author describes it as a combination of plagiarism and banality.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2026
Once youth sports returned, I clung to the routine and banality that came with it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2025
Madeleine Thien has penned an all-too-human novel that explores themes of collaboration and resistance, exile and community, and the banality of living in “interesting times.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2025
William nodded, a little taken aback by the banality of the comment.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
When it smoothly moves between the two, it feels like a singular commentary on life’s deceptive banalities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
At the same time, she is also uninterested in spouting the uplifting banalities that can make some celebrities seem calculated, as if every setback is just a marketing opportunity in disguise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
The oral histories chronicle Mr. Obama’s journey from an uninformed candidate embarrassed by the banalities he found himself spouting on the campaign trail to a besieged president gambling his political future on all-or-nothing legislative brinkmanship.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2024
One can always expect a coward to utter clichés and reinforce conventional banalities.
From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2024
After a few minutes spent exchanging earnest banalities, we went our separate ways.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
