banality

noun

ba·​nal·​i·​ty bə-ˈna-lə-tē  bā- 

also ba-

plural banalities

1

: something that lacks originality, freshness, or novelty : something banal : commonplace

2

: the quality or state of lacking new or interesting qualities : the quality or state of being banal

Synonyms of banality

• cliché
• bromide
• commonplace
• platitude
• truism
• trope
• chestnut
• saying

Examples of banality in a Sentence

The trip offers an escape from the banalities of daily life.

We exchanged banalities about the weather.

The writing never rose above banality.

Recent Examples on the Web

The songs on Purdy also have the tone of journal entries, detailing haggard trips to the grocery store, daydreams about his young daughters’ glamorous adult lives, and observations about the banality of oppression. — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 15 Oct. 2026

The sentences, packed with jargon, beat me down with their elaborate banality. — Max Callimanopulos, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2026

There’s so much premeditation and passion into doing that, and to actually play that with no music and just the sound and the banality of a lifeless body being hit by some blunt instrument is very viscerally upsetting. — Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 23 Sep. 2026

Then morning would come, with all the banalities that drew them apart. — Literary Hub, 18 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French banalité, from banal "available for general use, commonplace, banal" + -ité -ity

Note: The modern French word is probably an eighteenth-century coinage, and not continuous with Middle French bannalité "a feudal lord's right to extract usage fees, area under such a jurisdiction."

First Known Use

1821, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for banality

• bestiality
• brutality
• carnality
• centrality
• chirality
• duality
• fatality
• finality
• formality
• frugality
• legality
• lethality