mundane

[muhn-deyn, muhn-deyn]

adjective

1. common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative.

2. of or relating to this world or earth as contrasted with heaven; worldly; earthly.

   mundane affairs.

   Synonyms: temporal, secular

3. of or relating to the world, universe, or earth.

mundane

/ ˈmʌndeɪn, mʌnˈdeɪn /

adjective

1. everyday, ordinary, or banal

2. relating to the world or worldly matters

Other Word Forms

• mundanely adverb
• mundaneness noun
• mundanity noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of mundane¹

First recorded in 1425–75; from Latin mundānus, equivalent to mund(us) “world” + -ānus -ane; replacing late Middle English mondeyne, from Middle French mondain, from Latin, as above

Word History and Origins

Origin of mundane¹

C15: from French mondain, via Late Latin, from Latin mundus world

Synonym Study

See earthly.

Example Sentences

AI might even let you spend more time doing the parts of your job you enjoy and less on mundane tasks.

Read more on MarketWatch

To that end, before “Welcome to Derry” resurfaces the internet’s favorite scary clown, it foregrounds the ways that small-town charm can be an effective mask for the mundane evils we confront every day.

Read more on Salon

For the average person, life in authoritarian states is mostly boring and mundane.

Read more on Salon

To dispel troubling thoughts, she says it led her to repeat actions again and again - things most people would consider mundane and would do without a second thought.

Read more on BBC

What was once a coping mechanism became a way of chronicling the quotidian and memorizing the mundane.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• banal 
• day-to-day 
• everyday 
• humdrum 
• normal 
• prosaic 
• workaday