unimaginative

adjective

un·​imag·​i·​na·​tive

ˌən-ə-ˈmaj-nə-tiv;

-ˈma-jə-ˌnā-,

-nə- 

: having or showing a lack of imagination or originality : not imaginative

unimaginative people

an unimaginative menu

a predictable and unimaginative plot

unimaginatively adverb

… this is a simple, straightforward survey, competently if unimaginatively presented …

—Alan Knight

unimaginativeness noun

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The program Kashtanova used is similarly unimaginative. —Matt Ford, The New Republic, 3 Mar. 2023

This Valentine’s Day, skip the staid, unimaginative standards and instead get your wife, girlfriend, platonic pal or, heck, yourself a few gifts to drive all five senses wild. —Katharine K. Zarrella And Lizzy Wholley, WSJ, 26 Jan. 2023

McKay pointed to receivers who were unimaginative with their routes and poor blocking but not Williams. —Stephen Borelli, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2023

A lot of fantasy creatures are quite unimaginative, just two existing animals glued together—and some real animals are fairly unbelievable. —Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2020

Chazelle turns that Golden Age elegy into a jinx. Babylon epitomizes contemporary cinema as the least creative moment in cultural history — so unimaginative that Chazelle disrespects his own characters. —Armond White, National Review, 13 Jan. 2023

As unimaginative as his Victoria's Secret joke is, Tierney's lack of criticism toward this paper distresses me more. —Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 23 Feb. 2011

Is Plane the most amusingly unimaginative movie title in recent memory, or just the most ingeniously direct? —A.a. Dowd, Chron, 11 Jan. 2023

As a rule, unimaginative menus lead to sleepwalking cooks. —Pete Wells, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined above