There are several pronunciations of banal, but the three most common are \BAY-nul\, \buh-NAHL\, and \buh-NAL\ (which rhymes with canal). The earliest pronunciation given in our dictionaries is the now-unused \BAN-ul\ (rhymes with “flannel); it is attested to in our dictionaries back to the 1800s, but has dropped out of use. \BAY-nul\ is the next oldest pronunciation. The more recent \buh-NAL\ and \buh-NAHL\ came about through French influence, since banal was borrowed into English from French, and those two pronunciations are closer to the French pronunciation of banal. All three pronunciations are acceptable in educated speech; \buh-NAL\ is currently the most common, followed by \BAY-nul\ and then \buh-NAHL. There is no reason to condemn any of them as incorrect.
insipid implies a lack of sufficient taste or savor to please or interest.
an insipid romance with platitudes on every page
vapid suggests a lack of liveliness, force, or spirit.
an exciting story given a vapid treatment
flat applies to things that have lost their sparkle or zest.
although well-regarded in its day, the novel now seems flat
jejune suggests a lack of rewarding or satisfying substance.
a jejune and gassy speech
banal stresses the complete absence of freshness, novelty, or immediacy.
a banal tale of unrequited love
inane implies a lack of any significant or convincing quality.
an inane interpretation of the play
Examples of banal in a Sentence
The more banal, the more commonplace, the more predictable, the triter, the staler, the dumber, the better.—Don DeLillo, Mao II, 1991The instructor's script is banal, relying heavily on images of waves on a beach or clouds in the sky.—Maxine Kumin, "Wintering Over,"1979,
in In Deep, 1987… it seemed to me that computers have been used in ways that are salutary, in ways that are dangerous, banal and cruel, and in ways that seem harmless if a little silly.—Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine, 1981
He made some banal remarks about the weather.
The writing was banal but the story was good.
Recent Examples on the WebBut even when the natural intimacy of strangers thrust together by tragedy blossoms between them and Eric gathers his wits enough to show chivalry and concern as Samira’s health keeps fading, the character is never anything so banal as a White Knight protector.—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 June 2024 This is another way of saying that only history can judge—never mind our understanding, so common as to be banal, of how selectively history is made.—Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024 When Monique van Hoogstraten, a Dutch reporter, visited a protest encampment along the border with Israel in April 2018, the authorities noted the most banal of details.—Ronen Bergman, New York Times, 13 May 2024 As a result, their moral problems mainly take the form of banal trolley problems.—Nan Z. Da, Vulture, 3 Apr. 2024 See all Example Sentences for banal
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'banal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from French, "pertaining to a feudal lord's right to extract usage fees for mills, ovens, etc., within his jurisdiction, available for general use, ordinary, commonplace, trite," going back to Old French bannel "subject to a feudal lord's jurisdiction, of seigneurial authority," borrowed from Medieval Latin bannālis, banālis "ordered by a ban, invested with public authority," from bannus, bannum "order given by a public authority, authority, jurisdiction" (borrowed from Old Low Franconian *banna- "call to arms by a lord") + Latin -ālis-al entry 1 — more at ban entry 2
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