inane

adjective \ i-ˈnān \

Updated on: 5 Apr 2018

inaner; inanest

1 : empty, insubstantial

2 : lacking significance, meaning, or point : silly

inane comments

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inanely

adverb

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inaneness

play \i-ˈnān-nəs\ noun

See inane defined for English-language learners

See inane defined for kids

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Examples of inane in a Sentence

All around us swirls the battering of gargantuan films, Styrofoam epics with megatons of special effects, gleefully inane adolescent films, horror films that really are horrible. —Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic, 15 Mar. 2004
The surfeit of home runs is a sop to all the Philistines who require inane diversions like programmed races between electronic dots on the scoreboard to make it through a two-hit shutout. —Nicholas Dawidoff, New York Times Magazine, 4 Apr. 1999
Though feminist leaders are mostly aligned with those sentiments, they can't separate their quest for economic equity from the inane political correctness of their extremist sisters. —Mary Matalin, Newsweek, 25 Oct. 1993
I quickly tired of their inane comments.
The film's plot is inane and full of clichés.

Recent Examples of inane from the Web

Virtual assistants field answers to nearly any inane question.

— Washington Post, "Can Facebook restore public trust after privacy scandal?," 24 Mar. 2018
Virtual assistants field answers to nearly any inane question.

— CBS News, "Can Facebook restore public trust after Cambridge Analytica scandal?," 24 Mar. 2018
But when a particular moment or exchange is at issue, the ability to pull a clip of it could end these inane allegation-and-denial cycles once and for all.

— jay willis, GQ, "Donald Trump Accidentally Had a Good Idea in the Middle of This Shithole Disaster," 12 Jan. 2018
According to the Hollywood Reporter, network execs are reassessing E!'s red-carpet coverage, which, so far, amounts to scrapping the mani cam and thinking hard about not wasting Naomi Watts's air time on inane questions about her frittata.

— chelsea peng, Marie Claire, "Melissa Rivers Joins 'Fashion Police' as a Co-Host Alongside Giuliana Rancic, Brad Goreski," 18 June 2015
No, no and no, and stop asking such inane questions.

— chuck culpepper, Anchorage Daily News, "Curling fan etiquette 101: Babies, yes. Music, no. Mumbling, yes. Chanting, no.," 16 Feb. 2018
Boselli, who deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as one of the greatest offensive linemen of his era, has been a staunch defender of Bortles amid some incredibly inane criticism.

— mike bianchi, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Grotesque gymnastics doctor is just latest example of sports officials turning a blind eye to evil," 19 Jan. 2018
In the often loud and frequently inane blah-blah-blah that is radio, Milt Rosenberg was for nearly half a century an oasis of intelligent conversation and learned curiosity.

— rick kogan, chicagotribune.com, "Milt Rosenberg, longtime host of WGN-AM's 'Extension 720' show, dies at 92," 10 Jan. 2018
There followed an inane and rambling disquisition on how Russia installed Trump as president.

— gregory krieg, CNN, "Weirder than the aliens: Trump's America in 2017," 21 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'inane.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of inane

Latin inanis

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First Known Use: 1662

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

inane Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of inane

insipid, vapid, flat, jejune, banal, inane mean devoid of qualities that make for spirit and character. insipid implies a lack of sufficient taste or savor to please or interest.

- an insipid romance with platitudes on every page

vapid suggests a lack of liveliness, force, or spirit.

- an exciting story given a vapid treatment

flat applies to things that have lost their sparkle or zest.

- although well-regarded in its day, the novel now seems flat

jejune suggests a lack of rewarding or satisfying substance.

- a jejune and gassy speech

banal stresses the complete absence of freshness, novelty, or immediacy.

- a banal tale of unrequited love

inane implies a lack of any significant or convincing quality.

- an inane interpretation of the play

inane

noun \ i-ˈnān \

: void or empty space

a voyage into the limitless inane
—V. G. Childe

Examples of inane in a Sentence

And thus likewise we sometimes speak of place, distance, or bulk in the great inane beyond the confines of the world. —John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1689

Can inane Be Used As a Noun?

The adjective "inane" is now most commonly encountered as a synonym of "shallow" or "silly." But when this word first entered the English language in the early 17th century, it was used to mean "empty" or "insubstantial." It was this older sense that gave rise, in the latter half of the 17th century, to the noun "inane," which often serves as a poetic reference to the void of space ("the illimitable inane," "the limitless inane," "the incomprehensible inane"). This noun usage has not always been viewed in a favorable light. Samuel Johnson, in his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), says of "inane" that "it is used licentiously for a substantive," which in current English means that it is used as a noun without regard to the rules.