I. ə̇nˈsipə̇d adjective
Etymology: French & Late Latin; French insipide, from Middle French, from Late Latin insipidus, from Latin in- in- (I) + Late Latin sapidus well-tasted, savory, wise, prudent — more at sapid
1. : lacking taste or savor to such a degree as to be unpleasing or unappetizing to the palate : savorless , tasteless
insipid overcooked boiled cabbage
2. : lacking in qualities that interest, attract, stimulate, or challenge : dull , uninteresting , stale , commonplace
which may give occasion to wit and mirth within that circle, but would seem flat and insipid in any other — Earl of Chesterfield
3. : cloyingly sentimental or sweet
manages to be appropriately babyish without becoming insipid — Robert Hatch
Synonyms:
vapid , flat , jejune , inane , banal , wishy-washy : insipid indicates a lack of sufficient taste or savor to please, attract, interest, or stimulate; it applies to that which leaves one uninterested or bored
you have so much animation, which is exactly what Miss Andrews wants; for I must confess there is something amazingly insipid about her — Jane Austen
all former delights of turf, mess, hunting field, and gambling-table; all previous loves and courtships … were quite insipid when compared with the lawful matrimonial pleasures which of late he had enjoyed — W.M.Thackeray
vapid , often interchangeable with insipid , indicates a want of savor, tang, or sparkle likely to please, or liveliness, force, or spirit likely to interest
Sulpicius had a genius for making the most interesting things seem utterly vapid and dead — Robert Graves
his prose is vapid and feeble in the essay, and stilted and artificial in the oration — V.L.Parrington
the vapid and silly chatter of ordinary sociability among men and women — J.C.Powys
flat is less precisely suggestive of deficiency than the preceding but as strongly condemnatory in indicating want of stimulation, animation, or interest
a thing of frigid conceits worn bare by iteration; of servile borrowings; of artificial sentiment, flat as the lees and dregs of wine — J.L.Lowes
though his men are flat his women characters are done with real insight and intuitive understanding — Times Literary Supplement
jejune suggests a meager scantness of substance, a dearth of anything satisfying, nourishing, or strengthening
mere annalists … whose work is as colorless as it is jejune — J.R.Green
registration in the universities dwindled as the instruction they offered became increasingly jejune and lifeless — S.E.Morison
inane suggests a vacant emptiness, an utter want of purport, significance, or cogency
the passive, suggestible, mentally monocellular human being whose vast inane face is to be met with in all the Broadways and Main Streets of the world, the end product of picture magazines, bad education, mass entertainment, and a vulpine competitive society — Clifton Fadiman
Blanche's life, begun with who knows what bright hopes and what dreams, might just as well have never been lived. It all seemed useless and inane — W.S.Maugham
banal indicates complete absence of the freshness that stimulates; it may stress the unrelieved commonplace
the average man, doomed to some banal and sordid drudgery all his life long — H.L.Mencken
the representation of life [in moving pictures] is hollow, stupid, banal, childish — J.T.Farrell
wishy-washy may imply weakness through dilution or vacillation
talent is a wishy-washy thing unless it is solidly founded on honest hard work — E.G.Coleman
II. noun
( -s )
archaic : one that is insipid