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Synonyms

tasteless

American  
[teyst-lis] / ˈteɪst lɪs /

adjective

  1. having no taste or flavor; insipid.

  2. dull; uninteresting.

  3. lacking in aesthetic quality or capacity; devoid of good taste.

    a houseful of tasteless furnishings; a tasteless director of stale, dreary films.

  4. lacking in politeness, seemliness, tact, etc.; unmannerly; insensitive.

    a tasteless remark.

  5. lacking the physical sense of taste.

tasteless British  
/ ˈteɪstlɪs /

adjective

  1. lacking in flavour; insipid

  2. lacking social or aesthetic taste

  3. rare unable to taste

"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

Other Word Forms

  • tastelessly adverb
  • tastelessness noun

Etymology

Origin of tasteless

First recorded in 1585–95; taste + -less

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.

Some in the GOP regard his tasteless rhetoric and personal attacks as strikes against him.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

“It feels tasteless and cold,” one wrote on RedNote.

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026

“I apologize and regret putting myself in a position where emails, some of them embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible, are now public, and that is on me,” Attia wrote.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 4, 2026

She also included a BBC News Instagram post quoting the Daily Telegraph's Ed Power, who wrote: "Ryan Murphy is the high priest of tacky tasteless television, and this year he has outdone himself."

From BBC • Nov. 7, 2025

I send up two buckets of clean water, make a tasteless pot of porridge that will at least keep someone alive, and then Helena and I clean.

From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron

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.