bland
/bland
/adjective
1Lacking strong features or characteristics and therefore uninteresting: bland, mass-produced pop music...
- The current station is far from perfect, but at least it has character, which this bland, uninspired new design fails to achieve.
- Its visuals are disappointingly mediocre, featuring bland and utterly uninspired track designs.
- The peripheral characters are given similarly bland treatment.
Synonyms
uninteresting, dull, boring, tedious, monotonous, dry, drab, dreary, wearisome;
unexciting, unimaginative, uninspiring, uninspired, weak, insipid, colourless, lustreless, lacklustre, vapid, flat, stale, trite, vacuous, feeble, pallid, wishy-washy;
limp, lame, tired, lifeless, torpid, unanimated, zestless, spiritless, sterile, anaemic, barren, tame, bloodless, antiseptic;
middle-of-the-road, run-of-the-mill, commonplace, mediocre, nondescript, characterless, mundane, inoffensive, humdrum, prosaic
1.1(Of food or drink) unseasoned, mild-tasting, or insipid: a bland and unadventurous vegetarian dish standardized bland beers of mediocre quality...
- These companies seemed to believe that what drinkers wanted to drink was bland beer that was fizzy and tasteless.
- Favor simple, bland foods and cool drinks, and avoid alcohol and drinks with caffeine.
- The food was bland and unappealing, with no flavour she could tolerate.
Synonyms
tasteless, flavourless, insipid, mild, savourless, unflavoured, weak, thin, watery, watered-down, spiceless, unappetizing
informal wishy-washy
1.2Showing no strong emotion: his expression was bland and unreadable...
- It is easiest to define first what its role should not be - bland reassurance.
- The simple repetition of bland reassurance that fails to address patients' fears is ineffective.
- He spoke in a voice so calm and bland, it stuck in the air like an emotionless reverberation.
Synonyms
temperate, mild, soft, calm, balmy, soothing, benign
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'gentle in manner'): from Latin blandus 'soft, smooth'.
In early use bland was ‘gentle in manner’, from Latin blandus ‘soft, smooth’. This Latin adjective also forms the base of the Middle English noun blandishment.