nondescript

adjective

non·​de·​script ˌnän-di-ˈskript 

1

: belonging or appearing to belong to no particular class or kind : not easily described

… a nondescript mixture of styles in the worst possible taste.

—George Bernard Shaw

2

: lacking distinctive or interesting qualities : dull, drab

Their performance was disappointingly nondescript.

nondescript noun

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How Nondescript Was Formed

It is relatively easy to describe the origins of nondescript (and there's a hint in the first part of this sentence). Nondescript was formed by combining the prefix non- (meaning "not") with descriptus,the past participle of the Latin verb describere, meaning "to describe." It is no surprise, then, that when the word was adopted in the late 17th century by English speakers, it was typically applied to something (such as a genus or species) that had not yet been described. Other descriptive descendants of describere in English include describe, description, and descriptive itself, as well as the rare philosophical term descriptum ("something that is described").

Synonyms

• beige
• characterless
• faceless
• featureless
• indistinctive
• neutral
• noncommittal
• vanilla

Examples of nondescript in a Sentence

I work in one of the nondescript office buildings downtown.

Their performance was disappointingly nondescript.

Recent Examples on the Web

The bottom line is that two Texas senators want taxpayers to spend at least $1 billion to remove the most historic Space Shuttle from the most historic spaceflight museum in the world, possibly break it in an across-the-country move, and then put it in a nondescript warehouse in Houston. —Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 16 Apr. 2025

The novel begins in a restaurant in the financial district that’s laughably nondescript. —Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2025

Video posted online by the DEA Sunday morning showed federal officers breaking a large front window of a nondescript building as people fled through the door into the night, only to be stopped by additional armed federal agents. —Chris Boyette, CNN Money, 27 Apr. 2025

Their campaign has been drifting towards a nondescript conclusion for several weeks. —Andy Naylor, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

non- + Latin descriptus, past participle of describere to describe

First Known Use

1789, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for nondescript

• eucalypt
• manuscript
• superscript
• chipped
• clipped
• crypt
• dipped
• dripped
• flipped
• gripped
• hipped
• lipped

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Kids Definition

nondescript

adjective

non·​de·​script ˌnän-di-ˈskript 

: belonging or appearing to belong to no particular class or kind : not easily described

nondescript noun