adjective
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bereft of strength, sharpness, flavour, etc; flat
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boring or dull; lifeless
vapid talk
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vapid
First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin vapidus; akin to vapor
Explanation
Reserve the adjective vapid for the person in your office who brings nothing to the table, except maybe the doughnuts. Vapid is an adjective to describe someone or something that is dull or uninspiring. "We prefer not to consider the shockingly vapid and primitive comments uttered by athletes in postcontest interviews," David Foster Wallace wrote. The word was originally used in English in a much more literal sense, describing beverages that lacked flavor. It comes from the Latin word vapidus, literally "having exhaled its vapor."
Vocabulary lists containing vapid
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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Even More Negative Words to Describe a Person
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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.
Vapid to the cynical but precious to its truest believers, baseball is not a soulless game.
From Washington Post • Jan. 26, 2022
Vapid American cult of celebrity which awards d grade actors with wealth and adulation, meets British monarchy which awards spoilt naive sheltered would-be actors with wealth and adulation.
From New York Times • May 19, 2018
Vapid and pretentious, the overblown installation ranks among the worst works Warhol made.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 30, 2014
Vapid handwritten homilies.Approximate post frequency: Daily.Pet content: Low, unless you count children.
From The Guardian • Feb. 25, 2013
Vapid sentimentality was about as far as I could get.
From Stranded in Arcady by Lynde, Francis
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.
