as in cliché
an idea or expression that has been used by many people
another sitcom based on the banality of roommates with opposite personalities
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of banality
The novel’s power lies in its relentless banality—the mind churning while life’s machinery grinds on.
—
The New Yorker, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
Evil is aided and abetted by the banality of institutions and their functionaries.
—Literary Hub, 17 Oct. 2025
Written by Noah Oppenheim, Bigelow’s real-time thriller about the banalities and actualities of a fictional-in-premise-only nuclear attack on the United States is Netflix’s best horse in the race at the Oscars this year.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 19 Sep. 2025
Online, fans excoriated the bright lights and banality of the revamp so aggressively that the company’s chief marketing officer paid the Reddit forum a visit to quell concerns.
—Katherine Laidlaw, HubSpot, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for banality
Recent Examples of Synonyms for banality
Noun
-
Doping the Undopable The work focuses on cesium lead bromide nanoparticles known as CsPbBr3.—
-
There is a reason why the apocalyptic bromides about the state of print haven’t come to fruition, other than for disposable periodicals and newspapers.—
Noun
-
The 1945 War Brides Act largely diverged from these previous measures, helping to dismantle the Asian exclusion made commonplace in the 19th and early 20th centuries.—
-
In the last year, after all, heartrending images like these have become part of the ordinary, the everyday, the commonplace.—
Noun
-
Eritrea had trounced Zanzibar to reach the semi-finals of the CECAFA Under-20 Championship — consisting of national teams from east and central African nations — when, amid the celebrations and platitudes from government officials back home, the players made their move.—
-
On one hand, the platitudes of traditional sportsbook operators fracturing under a droplet of business pressure reflects how the world works.—
Noun
-
Warfare Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare is an admirable attempt to counter the truism that there’s no such thing as an anti-war movie — that all war movies, however gruesome or wrenching, effectively (and often unwittingly) wind up glamorizing combat to some degree.—
-
Kemp does warn his readers to be skeptical of truisms about the nature of history and the odds of apocalypse.—
Noun
-
There is so much pleasure to be had in rereading old favorites—and part of the joy is meeting beloved characters, who have been updated or somehow arrive in a new form to resist old tropes and types.—
-
The other one that happens to me more regularly is seeing common tropes or scenarios from the media and tipping them just slightly on their side.—
Noun
-
Turnovers come in bunches, the saying goes.—
-
Kids can be cruel, as the old saying goes.—
Cite this Entry
“Banality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/banality. Accessed 19 Jan. 2026.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
