Banality

Quick meaning: Banality is a noun meaning (uncountable) The quality of being banal.

Meaning

(uncountable) The quality of being banal.

More Meanings

1. (countable) Something which is banal.
2. (rare, historical) A feudal right or obligation, especially the obligation for a peasant to grind grain at the lord's mill, or the profits accruing from such rights.

Example Sentences

The law of banality, one of the most oppressive products of feudalism, was revived for the advantage of the nobility.

In fact corvées, champarts, and rights of banality not only continued but had been increased in the course of the seventeenth century.

Other banalities included the lord's exclusive right to hunt over the land, his monopoly over fishing, and his right to keep the dove-cote whose feathery occupants ate a peasant's standing crops.

The concept of the banality of evil came into prominence following the publication of Hannah Arendt's 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, which was based on the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem.

Word Forms

• banalities

Synonyms for banality

Depending on context, synonyms include bathos, platitude, commonplace, bromide, cliche.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include platitude, cliche, commonplace, bromide, triviality, commonplaceism.

Related Dictionary Tools