banal stresses the complete absence of freshness, novelty, or immediacy. inane implies a lack of any significant or convincing quality. The more banal, the more commonplace, the more predictable, the …

BANAL definition: devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite. See examples of banal used in a sentence.

Bore and bored (Definition of banal from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

Drearily commonplace and often predictable; trite: "Blunt language cannot hide a banal conception" (James Wolcott). [French, from Old French, shared by tenants in a feudal jurisdiction, from ban, …

Definition of banal adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. very ordinary and containing nothing that is interesting or important. He knew how banal the question was as soon as …

If something is boring and unoriginal, it's banal. Banal things are dull as dishwater.

If you describe something as banal, you do not like it because you think that it is so ordinary that it is not at all effective or interesting.

Feb 2, 2026 · banal (comparative more banal or banaler, superlative most banal or banalest) Common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh. synonyms, …

Factsheet What does the word banal mean? There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word banal. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

lacking freshness or originality; trite: a banal plot. ba•nal•ly, adv. WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025 ba•nal (bə nal′, -näl′, bān′ l), adj. devoid of …