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Definition of "banal" []

  • Drearily commonplace and often predictable; trite: "Blunt language cannot hide a banal conception” ( James Wolcott). (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "banal" in a sentence
  • "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."
  • "Most interactions in the old Soviet Union were very banal from the '50's on."