Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Drearily commonplace and often predictable; trite: "Blunt language cannot hide a banal conception” ( James Wolcott).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Subject to manorial rights; used in common: as, a banal mill or oven. See banality.
- Common; commonplace; hackneyed; trite; stale.
- Of or pertaining to a ban, or provincial governor: as, the royal banal court at Agram. See ban.
Wiktionary
- adj. Common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Commonplace; trivial; hackneyed; trite.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
Etymologies
- French, from Old French, shared by tenants in a feudal jurisdiction, from ban, summons to military service, of Germanic origin; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“I found it impossibly hard, and watched in awe as they demonstrated what they described as banal, but which we found almost magical in its purity.”
“In his letter the pope said that in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis, the church had to be all the more watchful and attentive about who should become priests and ensure that future ministers do not succumb to what he called a banal and destructive sexuality.”
Voice of America: Pope: Would-Be Priests Must Not be Deterred by Sex Scandal
“Most interactions in the old Soviet Union were very banal from the '50's on.”
“generals" had been dumbfounded by the disclosures, which he described as banal and in bad taste.”
“All these assertions merely recall the banal law that a phenomenon is simply the consequence of previous phenomena.”
“Used to be called banal, pandering, talk, but I think parsed to the LCD sounds much better.”
“The kind of nationalism we demonstrate is probably what Michael Billig (1995) called banal nationalism include the use of flag in everyday contexts, cheering for Manny Pacquiao, using symbols on money, popular expressions and turns of phrase, patriotic clubs, and the likes.”
“As a result, holding people for 48 hours without bringing formal charges has become "banal," the council complained.”
“I am not suggesting that all Christians subscribe to this kind of banal, market-driven theology.”
The Huffington Post: Clay Farris Naff: Open Your God Account Now, and Get a Free Gift!
“It's meant to be haunted by a boy who killed himself but you can probably do without that kind of banal symbolism.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘banal’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 837 more...
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October Words-10031
During the month of October, post at least 10 new words to this list. Make sure you cite where you read the word (book/author/pg) and quote the context/sentence where you found it. If someone has a...
Obsequious, Desalination, exploit, banal, Euphony, Sycophant, Gypsy, Wry, asthenic, odious, digamy, captious and 1 more...
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humpty's list
detrimental, hedonism, exonerate, extemporaneous, labyrinth, diffidence, brazen, celerity, alacrity, bigotry, phantasmagorical, sardonic and 14 more...
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February 2012
filiopietistic, bifurcate, enclave, wedlock, decadent, unduly, defunct, lapel, tumescent, capitulation, leaden, scintilla and 83 more...
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SAT words
tergiversate, cymotrichous, vigilance, wince, consternation, cower, neutralize, euphony, cacophony, misanthrope, bibliophile, kleptomania and 81 more...
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Thought Words
Words that describe philosophical or descriptive reality.
tiredseashell Like modern life. Sep 8, 2008
whichbe Seems to be like the pronunciation of 'canal', huh. Aug 14, 2008
chained_bear Milosrdentsvi, meet gangerh. :) Aug 14, 2008
milosrdenstvi Drives me berserk when people pronounce it to rhyme with 'anal'. Makes me simply wild! It is pronounced how yarb explained; anything else is simply indicative of where your mind's been. Aug 14, 2008
darqueau "Banal ideas cannot be rescued by beautiful execution.�?
sentence 32. Sol Lewitt. Sentences on Conceptual Art Jul 26, 2008
reesetee Nasaal? Haha! Nov 28, 2007
chained_bear U, I say it a lot, actually. Only, every single time there's a long pause while people stare at me. I can only surmise it's out of shock that someone's pronounced it aloud. Nov 27, 2007
bilby Don't like this one. Visually it looks like bum and anal slammed together (heaven forbid!) and the pronunciation is ugly and nasaal.
Nov 27, 2007
yarb I (and people I know) use this word all the time! Whenever I watch the TV news, for example. It's pronounced buh-NAAL. To rhyme with kraal. Nov 27, 2007
uselessness The word everyone knows but no one is quite sure how to pronounce. Seems it's only ever presented in written form. Nov 27, 2007