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banal - 8 dictionary results

ba⋅nal

[buh-nal, -nahl, beyn-l]
–adjective
devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite: a banal and sophomoric treatment of courage on the frontier.

Origin:
1745–55; < F; OF: pertaining to a ban (see ban 2 , -al 1 )


ba⋅nal⋅i⋅ty [buh-nal-i-tee, bey-] , noun
ba⋅nal⋅ly, adverb


See commonplace.
ba·nal   (bə-nāl', bā'nəl, bə-näl')   
adj.  Drearily commonplace and often predictable; trite: "Blunt language cannot hide a banal conception" (James Wolcott).

[French, from Old French, shared by tenants in a feudal jurisdiction, from ban, summons to military service, of Germanic origin; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots.]
ba·nal'ize' v., ba·nal'ly adv.
Usage Note: The pronunciation of banal is not settled among educated speakers of American English. Sixty years ago, H.W. Fowler recommended the pronunciation (bān'əl, rhyming with panel), but this pronunciation is now regarded as recondite by most Americans: no member of the Usage Panel prefers this pronunciation. In our 2001 survey, (bənāl') is preferred by 58 percent of the Usage Panel, (bā'nəl) by 28 percent, and (bə-näl') by 13 percent (this pronunciation is more common in British English). Some Panelists admit to being so vexed by the problem that they tend to avoid the word in conversation. Speakers can perhaps take comfort in knowing that these three pronunciations each have the support of at least some of the Usage Panel and that none of them is incorrect. When several pronunciations of a word are widely used, there is really no right or wrong one.
Main Entry:  banal1
Part of Speech:  adj
Definition:  commonplace; tired or petty
Etymology:  Serbo-Croatian ban 'lord, ruler'
Main Entry:  banal2
Part of Speech:  adj
Definition:  pertaining to compulsory feudal service
Etymology:  Serbo-Croatian ban 'lord, ruler'
Main Entry:  banal3
Part of Speech:  adj
Definition:  pertaining to a lord or ruler (banat) in Hungary, Croatia, and thereabouts
Etymology:  Serbo-Croatian ban 'lord, ruler'
Language Translation for : banal
Spanish: corriente,
German: gewöhnlich,
Japanese: ありふれた

Banal

Ban"al\, a. [F., fr. ban an ordinance.] Commonplace; trivial; hackneyed; trite.

banal 
"trite, commonplace," 1840, from Fr. banal, adj. form of ban "decree, legal control" (see ban (v.)). Originally designating things like ovens or mills that belonged to feudal serfs, or else compulsory military service; in either case generalized through "open to everyone" to "commonplace, ordinary," to "trite, petty."

Main Entry: ba·nal
Pronunciation: b&-'nal, ba-, -'nol; bA-'nal; 'bAn-&l
Function: adjective
: of a common or ordinary kind<banal skin organisms> banal inflammation>
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