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insipid

[in-sip-id]
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adjective
  1. without distinctive, interesting, or stimulating qualities; vapid: an insipid personality.
  2. without sufficient taste to be pleasing, as food or drink; bland: a rather insipid soup.
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Origin of insipid

1610–20; < Latin insipidus, equivalent to in- in-3 + -sipidus, combining form of sapidus sapid
Related formsin·si·pid·i·ty, in·sip·id·ness, nounin·sip·id·ly, adverb
Can be confusedincipient insipid insipient

Synonyms

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1, 2. flat, dull, uninteresting. 2. tasteless, bland.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for insipidity

Historical Examples

  • She is divinely innocent, but roguishness saves her from insipidity.

    A Cathedral Courtship

    Kate Douglas Wiggin

  • The insipidity and yet the noise; the nothingness and yet the self-importance of all these people!

  • She says she was moved to the remark by the insipidity of the dish.

  • Mr. Read's fondness was the saccharine that qualified the insipidity of his wife's apathy.

    Alone

    Marion Harland

  • Nor must this be mistaken for insipidity or weakness of design.

British Dictionary definitions for insipidity

insipid

adjective
  1. lacking spirit; boring
  2. lacking taste; unpalatable
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Derived Formsinsipidity or insipidness, nouninsipidly, adverb

Word Origin

C17: from Latin insipidus, from in- 1 + sapidus full of flavour, sapid
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for insipidity

n.

c.1600, from insipid + -ity.

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insipid

adj.

1610s, "without taste or perceptible flavor," from French insipide (16c.), from Late Latin inspidus "tasteless," from Latin in- "not" (see in- (1)) + sapidus "tasty," from sapere "have a taste" (also "be wise;" see sapient). Figurative meaning "uninteresting, dull" first recorded 1640s, but it was also a secondary sense in Medieval Latin.

In ye coach ... went Mrs. Barlow, the King's mistress and mother to ye Duke of Monmouth, a browne, beautifull, bold, but insipid creature. [John Evelyn, diary, Aug. 18, 1649]

Related: Insipidly.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper