| Library / English Dictionary |
BLAND
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Smoothly agreeable and courteous with a degree of sophistication
Example:
the manager pacified the customer with a smooth apology for the error
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
diplomatic; diplomatical (using or marked by tact in dealing with sensitive matters or people)
Derivation:
blandness (the trait of exhibiting no personal embarrassment or concern)
blandness (the quality of being bland and gracious or ingratiating in manner)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting
Example:
a flat joke
Synonyms:
bland; flat
Classified under:
Similar:
unexciting; unstimulating (not stimulating)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lacking taste or flavor or tang
Example:
vapid tea
Synonyms:
bland; flat; flavorless; flavourless; insipid; savorless; savourless; vapid
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
tasteless (lacking flavor)
Derivation:
blandness (lacking any distinctive or interesting taste property)
Context examples:
"Oh, she liked it, and she kissed me, and I liked it. Don't little boys like little girls?" asked Demi, with his mouth full, and an air of bland satisfaction.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
“Hardly that, Doctor, hardly that,” said Holmes, in his blandest voice.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A distinctive variant of fibrosarcoma, characterized by an admixture of heavily collagenized and myxoid zones, deceptively bland spindled cells with a whorling growth pattern and arcades of curvilinear blood vessels.
(Low Grade Fibromyxoid Sarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)
And there was Silver, sitting back almost out of the firelight, but eating heartily, prompt to spring forward when anything was wanted, even joining quietly in our laughter—the same bland, polite, obsequious seaman of the voyage out.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
You sit quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting others; and presently some bland old bird (the last you would have thought of) is knocked on the head in his own back garden and the family have to change their name.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Mr. Spenlow, settling his chin in his cravat and rubbing it softly, went over the items with a deprecatory air—as if it were all Jorkins's doing—and handed it back to Tiffey with a bland sigh.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I am sorry to trouble you, said he, in his blandest manner, to the young woman behind the grating; there is some small mistake about a telegram I sent yesterday.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
No hint of this had reached the culprits, however, and Amy's dismay can be imagined, when, the very evening before the fair, as she was putting the last touches to her pretty table, Mrs. Chester, who, of course, resented the supposed ridicule of her daughter, said, in a bland tone, but with a cold look...
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
As I was looking out of window that same evening, it surprised me, and made me rather uneasy, to see Mr. Micawber and Uriah Heep walk past, arm in arm: Uriah humbly sensible of the honour that was done him, and Mr. Micawber taking a bland delight in extending his patronage to Uriah.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
