How to Use anodyne in a Sentence

anodyne

1 of 2 adjective

• The list, the center of the plot, should chill the blood but the song is merely anodyne.
  — David Benedict, Variety, 20 June 2023
• The germ of the conspiracy theory had to do with one of the most anodyne parts of my job.
  — Benjamin Hart, Daily Intelligencer, 17 June 2018
• So far, no one seems to know quite what to post on Threads, though the dominant tone is anodyne and sincere.
  — Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 8 July 2023
• The court's order came in an anodyne statement with no dissents - just the kind of thing legal experts say the court strives for.
  — Author: Robert Barnes, Ann E. Marimow, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Nov. 2019
• At even the most anodyne applause lines the Democrats remain seated.
  — Anchorage Daily News, 12 Feb. 2018
• At the start, those exterior shots of the house at 704 Hauser Street seem so anodyne.
  — Vulture, 6 Dec. 2023
• But these anodyne statements are much too little, too late.
  — Ryan Kearney, New Republic, 24 Sep. 2017
• Among those watching the sunset, plenty seemed to have more anodyne reasons.
  — Henry Wismayer, Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2022
• But that seems to be an anodyne way of saying that the exact nature, cause, and solution to burnout aren't entirely clear.
  — Whizy Kim, refinery29.com, 28 Sep. 2021
• Sure, Grok’s rivals may be annoyingly anodyne and prone to playing it safe, but there’s a reason for that.
  — David Meyer, Fortune Europe, 6 Nov. 2023
• On the face of it, Pruitt’s remarks are relatively anodyne.
  — Tara Isabella Burton, Vox, 6 July 2018
• The auto industry may soon be usurped by an anodyne fleet of robo-taxis, but the final days are turning into a bit of a party for petrolheads.
  — Kyle Stock, Bloomberg.com, 14 July 2017
• Ogles, who represents the district that the Covenant School is located in, was quick to offer a bland, anodyne statement in response.
  — Tori Otten, The New Republic, 27 Mar. 2023
• Initially the murals arranged by Paint the Void were anodyne by design.
  — Ryan Kost, SFChronicle.com, 27 Sep. 2020
• Whether this shift toward a more anodyne, algorithmic ethos is a good thing, of course, depends on your vantage point.
  — New York Times, 17 Feb. 2021
• The art was of the anodyne motel variety — an old-masters-esque tableau, a canvas of a zebra standing in a forest.
  — Matthew Shaer, New York Times, 12 June 2017
• But this anodyne sentiment is too vague and banal to explain anything, much less carry a book, and Gladwell knows it.
  — Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2019
• Even the most anodyne mention of civil rights is suppressed, as seen recently with revered figures like Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges.
  — Clay Cane, CNN, 5 Apr. 2023
• The most anodyne events are freighted with the possibility of, well, anything.
  — Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2019
• Though it is couched in the anodyne language of a corporate news release, the document’s message should come as a shock to everyone in the media business.
  — Farhad Manjoo, New York Times, 29 June 2016
• In a sea of increasingly anodyne and wearable high fashion, Dossena goes his own way.
  — Rachel Tashjian, Harper's BAZAAR, 3 Mar. 2023
• But most people saw everything that was missing: the patient buildup from dark to light, the anodyne displays of technical skill, the kitschy sentiments.
  — Washington Post, 14 Sep. 2023
• Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, Zoom has evolved from being anodyne conference call software to a household name symbolizing much of remote-work life.
  — Marty Swant, Forbes, 29 Sep. 2021
• Chamberlain, for one, held West's anodyne nature against him.
  — Jack McCallum, SI.com, 12 Oct. 2017
• Triangle of Sadness critiques class in a dull, Marxist way that is almost anodyne.
  — Armond White, National Review, 27 Jan. 2023
• But even then Barr, 65, was far from an anodyne personality — as ABC surely knew.
  — Daniel Arkin /, NBC News, 29 May 2018
• The narrator is to have no part in the suicide other than offering emotional support—but what could such an anodyne phrase mean in the context of imminent death?
  — Sam Sacks, WSJ, 4 Sep. 2020
• The backlash clouded what is normally a pretty anodyne event.
  — Annalisa Merelli, Quartz, 27 Sep. 2019
• For the most part, its contents—lists of instructions and precautions, a diagram of the drug’s molecular structure—make for anodyne reading.
  — Jonathan Zittrain, The New Yorker, 23 July 2019
• Warming For the ultimate call to action, release an anodyne statement that falls short of overwhelming praise for Taylor Swift and attribute it to the forces behind climate change.
  — Ivan Ehlers, The New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2023

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anodyne

2 of 2 noun

• The first inning began with the anodyne, at least by the standards of what was to come.
  — Alan Blinder, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2019
• But the truth of the matter was likely much more anodyne.
  — Eliza McGraw, Smithsonian, 12 Mar. 2018
• Even gluttony can be spun as anodyne, a form of self-care.
  — Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2019
• But then there is the anodyne Orange County dialect in Dirty John.
  — Virginia Heffernan, WIRED, 1 June 2018
• All of that techno-wizardry is fine and well, but there's always a danger that the end product feels cold or anodyne.
  — Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 17 Sep. 2017
• During this dark time, vodka was Caron's anodyne; her histrionics were tabloid fodder; and a song of love was a sad song, indeed.
  — Lili Rosenkranz, Town & Country, 17 July 2014
• Such films taught audiences how to keep Christmas in an anodyne manner that was designed not to give offense.
  — Terry Teachout, WSJ, 20 Dec. 2018
• Big moves, really, for two people who are best known for being anodyne.
  — Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, 2 July 2018
• Stanford University tries to buy her silence with a few park benches and an anodyne plaque.
  — Christine Emba, Twin Cities, 2 Oct. 2019
• Even an anodyne softball game between Sanders’s staff and members of the press became a source of (minor) controversy.
  — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 28 Aug. 2019
• Many viewers may have heard them as anodyne; others likely reacted a bit like Mike Myers did standing next to Kanye West 12 years ago.
  — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 13 Sep. 2017
• This might seem extreme: at first glance, the roundtable’s recommendations border on the anodyne.
  — The Economist, 22 Aug. 2019
• The consequences of a national referendum process in the U.S. could resemble what has transpired in the U.K. more than the anodyne promises of would-be reformers.
  — The Conversation, 17 Sep. 2019
• But environmental groups fear that Abe and the G-20 would produce an anodyne communique that failed to grasp the seriousness of the crisis facing the planet.
  — Washington Post, 28 June 2019
• Don’t let the anodyne language of Trump’s clearly capable speechwriter fool you.
  — Brittney Cooper, Cosmopolitan, 31 Jan. 2018
• Maduro’s administration sends a stream of anodyne images as protesters send out up-to-the-minute updates of arrests and violence.
  — Nathan Crooks, Bloomberg.com, 3 May 2017
• So as anodyne as the choice of artists might be, tonight’s Vance Joy show masks a surprisingly risky move for a pair of companies that are at the forefront of a larger conversation about privacy and user safety.
  — Peter Rubin, WIRED, 30 May 2018
• The reigning commercial queen of the region continues to be Southern Living, that anodyne, 51-year-old war horse with the best cheese-straw recipes, and an audited circulation of 2.8 million.
  — Richard Fausset, ajc, 10 Sep. 2017
• The anodyne responses the students received from L.U.O. were frequently glossed with Christian bromides.
  — Alec MacGillis/propublica, New York Times, 17 Apr. 2018
• Rather than an anodyne highway through the urban hinterlands where dealerships cluster, there’s a sinuous track.
  — Kyle Stock, Bloomberg.com, 26 Feb. 2018
• The dance pressure and styles scarcely change; there are wonderful moments when (for example) break-dancing and Trisha Brown style seem fascinatingly fused but also long passages of the anodyne.
  — Alastair MacAulay, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2017
• And Wiig’s anodyne lilt as Sandra perfectly captures the push and pull between the system’s algorithmic instincts and the more human trappings of its operators.
  — Michael Andor Brodeur, BostonGlobe.com, 10 May 2018
• Each spread offers an anodyne expression accompanied by a blocky, straightforward illustration that, when the next page unfolds, takes a cockamamie new form.
  — Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 8 June 2018
• Balcony tables overlook the civilized debauchery below, and the soundtrack is a mix of the usual anodyne electropop wallpaper and Rat Pack dance remixes, the latter a diabolical genre designed to drive you out of your mind.
  — Mike Sula, Chicago Reader, 20 Sep. 2017
• Gates became an important player on the campaign, striking up a friendship with Reince Preibus and managing many of the anodyne responsibilites of a political operation.
  — Benjamin Hart, Daily Intelligencer, 30 Oct. 2017
• Kogan had created the most anodyne of tools for electoral manipulation: an app based on personality quizzes.
  — Nicholas Thompson and Fred Vogelstein, WIRED, 20 Mar. 2018
• President Trump delivered a fairly traditional mix of barbs and bromides during his 80-minute State of the Union address on Jan. 30, but one seemingly anodyne claim was actually pretty audacious.
  — Massimo Calabresi, Time, 1 Feb. 2018
• Even something as theoretically anodyne and broadly popular as net neutrality is a partisan football these days, endlessly kicked, carried, and thrown back and forth.
  — Kate Cox, Ars Technica, 5 Nov. 2019
• Walker has a presence both intimidatingly sleek and strangely anodyne.
  — Boris Kachka, The Cut, 5 Feb. 2018
• The game’s anodyne subject and photogenic appearance make those images and clips immediately appealing.
  — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 22 Oct. 2019

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024