Bland Meaning
/blænd/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjHaving a soothing effect; not irritating or stimulating.
adjLacking in taste or flavor.
Sentence Examples
Life would become bland without you.
I just moved in so my room is still quite bland.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The soup was so ____ that it had no taste at all.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The food was a bit ____, so I added some salt and spicy pepper city.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Latin blandusbor. English bland Borrowed from Latin blandus (“pleasant, flattering”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"First and foremost, alternative country artists generally claim to reject mainstream country music as musically indistinguishable from bland pop music, as lyrically superficial, and as having no artistic merit […]"
— 2012, John Shepherd, David Horn, Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World:
"He's reading Balzac and knocking back Prozac / It's a helping hand that makes you feel wonderfully bland"
— 1996, “Country House”, in The Great Escape, performed by Blur:
"Where didst thou find, young Bard, thy sounding lyre? / Where the bland accent, and the tender tone?"
— 1818, John Keats, Sonnet:
"“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;[…]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache."
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The soup was so ____ that it had no taste at all.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The food was a bit ____, so I added some salt and spicy pepper city.