noun

banality

buh-NAL-uh-tee/bəˈnæləti/

The dullness of something obvious and unoriginal.

The repeated sunset scenes bore the gallery visitor with their banality.

A bored gallery visitor surveys several nearly identical, uninspired sunset paintings: the same orange sun, flat horizon, and lone palm tree repeated with only trivial differences.

Etymology

banOld Frenchdecree, legal control

+alFrenchpertaining to

+ityFrenchquality or state

The legal-control root reached 'commonplace' through feudal shared facilities or compulsory service, then the idea 'open to everyone.' The quality suffix makes banality the state of being ordinary to the point of triteness.

In context

TED9:02

If there was a fistfight, we would speak of that for months. So the banality of goodness is something that doesn't attract your attention, but it exists.

Matthieu Ricard: How to let altruism be your guide

More examples

The conversation sank into familiar banalities about the weather.
She revised the scene to escape its banality.
A single vivid detail rescued the story from banality.

Forms

banality · banalities

banal adjective — Obvious, unoriginal, and lacking interest.

Similar words

triteness: Closely overlaps but emphasizes ideas worn out by repetition.
dullness: Can result from many causes besides lack of originality.