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Today's Word "banal"

Commonplace on

Published in Vocabulary

banal \BAY-nul; buh-NALL; buh-NAHL (British)\ (adjective) - Commonplace; trivial; hackneyed; trite.

"While many critics were raving that the new work was fresh and inspiring, Jack and his friends found it banal and insipid, devoid of any redeeming qualities whatsoever."

 

Banal comes from the Old French word ban, an edict, which had the adjective banal, "of or relating to compulsory feudal service," which evolved to signify "merely obligatory," hence "commonplace."


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