bland

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
Sean kept his expression bland, but inside he bristled.

View all »
Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Characterized by a moderate, unperturbed, or tranquil quality, especially:
  2. adjective Pleasant in manner; smooth: a bland smile.
  3. adjective Not irritating or stimulating; soothing: a bland diet.
3 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (44)

  • It took all his years of experience to keep his own expression bland, his own eyes calm. —  KISSED BY SHADOWS
  • Keep your expression bland, but let them know you're staring at them. —  Garwood, Julie - Rose 1 - For the Roses
  • I have this fear that we will soon be reading only what I have termed "happy fic" -- bland, emotionless fiction about superficial events -- because happy fic upsets no one. —  F ;SF; - vol 087 issue 01 - July 1994
  • They would be like the bland, boring version of The Usual Suspects. —  Hollywood Elsewhere
  • Character models are bland, and in the first-person perspective from which the game is played, your arms appear to be hovering and disembodied, which is a little scary. —  Latest from PALGN
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 185 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

placid ·  mild ·  courteous ·  pleasant ·  amiable ·  impassive ·  confident ·  indifferent ·  stolid ·  neutral ·  benign ·  thoughtful

Used in the same contextWord Family

bland:   blander
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin blandus, caressing, flattering; see mel-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Early modern English (Scots), from Middle English blanden, blonden, from Anglo-Saxon blandan (preterit bleónd, past participle blanden) = Old Saxon blandan = Old High German blantan = Icelandic blanda = Swedish blanda = Danish blande = Gothic (Moesogothic) blandan (redupl. verb, preterit baibland, past participle blandans), mix; rare in Anglo-Saxon, and in later use superseded by blend, q. v.
  2. (1) Middle English, from Anglo-Saxon bland (= Icelandic bland), mixture (Icelandic ī bland, in union, together), from blandan, mix; (2) from Icelandic blanda, a mixture of liquids, especially of hot whey with water, from blanda = Anglo-Saxon blandan, mix, blend: see bland, v.
  3. from L. blandus, caressing, soft, agreeable, flattering, perhaps orig. *mlandus, akin to mollis, mild, Sanskrit mridu, Greek μείλιχος, English mild, etc.: see mild, moll.
  4. Early modern English (Scots), from Middle English blanden, blonden, blaunden = Middle Dutch blanden, from Old French blandir (later also English blandish, q. v.), from L. blandiri, flatter, caress: see blandish.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/blænd/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a week.

Recently looked up

polarizability · kalamansi · histrionic · thoughtless · Yeah

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich · Glockenspiel