insipid

insipid (ɪnˈsɪpɪd)

—*adj*
1.	lacking spirit; boring
2.	lacking taste; unpalatable

[C17: from Latin insipidus, from in-¹ + sapidus full of flavour, sapid]

insi'pidity

—n

in'sipidness

—n

in'sipidly

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

insipid

1610s, "without taste or perceptible flavor," from Fr. insipide, from L.L. inspidus "tasteless," from L. in- "not" + sapidus "tasty," from sapere "have a taste" (also "be wise"). Fig. meaning "uninteresting, dull" first recorded 1640s, but it was also a secondary sense in M.L.

"In ye coach ... went Mrs. Barlow, the King's mistress and mother to ye Duke of Monmouth, a browne, beautifull, bold, but insipid creature." [John Evelyn, diary, Aug. 18, 1649]

Example sentences

There the federal troopers spent a miserable winter, complaining about the

insipid food.

Freshly boiled, because long cooking renders it flat and insipid to taste on

account of escape of its atmospheric gases.

Unless of course you're playing a game, or watching an insipid comedy or

goofing with your smart phone.

The insipid fruit is sometimes eaten, and the leaves are said to alleviate

acute stomachache.

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piquant sapless stale tasteless unmeaning

Matching Quote

"I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common with novel writers, of degrading by their contemptuous censure the very performances, to the number of which they are themselves adding—joining with their greatest enemies in bestowing the harshest epithets on such works, and scarcely ever permitting them to be read by their own heroine, who, if she accidentally take up a novel, is sure to turn over its insipid leaves with disgust."

-Jane Austen