banal
adj.adj. describing something that is very common, ordinary, or boring. You use this to talk about things that have lost their special or exciting quality.
adj. lacking originality, freshness, or interest; commonplace or unremarkable. Often used to describe ideas, objects, or situations that have become so familiar they are no longer impressive.
The movie has a banal plot that lacks any real tension.
The once-revolutionary design of the building now feels banal to modern architects who see it everywhere.
The critic argued that the novel's banal themes failed to engage a generation of readers who had grown weary of the same tired narratives.
Borrowed from French banal (“held in common, relating to feudal service, by extension commonplace”), from Old French banel, related to Medieval Latin bannālis (“subject to feudal authority”), from Latin bannus (“jurisdiction”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to order, summon, forbid”). Equivalent to ban + -al. See also ban, abandon.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Last updated May 19, 2026