banal
Syllables: ban·al/bəˈnɑːl/
banal adjective: common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh.
Adjective
banal (comparative more banal or banaler, superlative most banal or banalest)
- Common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh.
- banal clichés
- banal conversation
- Relating to a type of feudal jurisdiction or service.
- They arrived in 1732, and were distributed gratis to the more important banal mills.1926, Thomas Guérin, Feudal Canada: The Story of the Seigniories of New France, page 72
- French historians have viewed these policies as efforts to replace the banal authority inherited from the Carolingians […]1984, C. Warren Hollister, “War and Diplomacy in the Anglo-Norman world: the reign of Henry I”, in Anglo-Norman Studies VI: Proceedings of the Battle Conference, 1983, page 79
banal meaning in Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Pashto
banal in Bengali
- banal, corny, stale
- মামুলী mamuli
banal in Malayalam
- hackneyed, trite, cliched
- ക്ഷുദ്രമായ, സർവ്വസാധാരണം, സാമാന്യമായ, നിസ്സാരം, തുച്ഛം, ആവർത്തനംകൊണ്ടു വിരസമായ
banal in Kannada
- ಅತಿಸಾಧಾರಣ, ಬಹುಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ, ನೀರಸ, ಪ್ರೌಢವಲ್ಲದ
banal in Pashto
- banal, trite, commonplace, petty, vulgar
- ساده sādá
More languagesFewer languages
- banal in Arabic
- بَايِخ bāyiḵ, عَادِيّ ʕādiyy
- banal in Malay
- basi, banal
- banal in Indonesian
- banal
- banal in Vietnamese
- nhàm
Examples of banal in a sentence
- The movie’s dialogue was predictable and banal.
- He made a few banal remarks about the weather.
- One of the most banal scenes is suddenly invested with so much meaning!2013, John Carney, Begin Again (motion picture), spoken by Dan (Mark Ruffalo):
- To what extent were banal lords accountable to a prince or a king for their unrestricted exercise of public authority?2002, Wim Blockmans, Peter Hoppenbrouwers, Introduction to Medieval Europe 300–1500, page 138:
Synonyms of banal
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of banal
| comparative | more banal |
|---|---|
| comparative | banaler |
| superlative | most banal |
| superlative | banalest |
| alternative uncommon | bannal |
Origin of banal
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.
Words formed from banal
Words that rhyme with banal
Questions about banal
- What does banal mean?
- Banal means common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh.
- What is banal in Bengali?
- Banal in Bengali is মামুলী (mamuli). See Banal meaning in Bengali.
- How do you use banal in a sentence?
- The movie’s dialogue was predictable and banal.
- What part of speech is banal?
- Banal is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce banal?
- Banal is pronounced /bəˈnɑːl/.
Words near banal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: banal (page history and authors); মামুলী (Bengali) (page history and authors); banal (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); banal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ساده (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-banal.ogg.
Cite this entry: “banal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/banal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.