insipid implies a lack of sufficient taste or savor to please or interest.
an insipid romance with platitudes on every page
vapid suggests a lack of liveliness, force, or spirit.
an exciting story given a vapid treatment
flat applies to things that have lost their sparkle or zest.
although well-regarded in its day, the novel now seems flat
jejune suggests a lack of rewarding or satisfying substance.
a jejune and gassy speech
banal stresses the complete absence of freshness, novelty, or immediacy.
a banal tale of unrequited love
inane implies a lack of any significant or convincing quality.
an inane interpretation of the play
Example Sentences
Adjective the flat top of the table the flat landscape of the prairie Coins are usually round and flat. a flat piece of wood Noun the flat of your hand the flat of a sword Adverb Lay the map flat on the desk. He slipped and landed flat on his back. We asked for more time but they turned us down flat. See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
The $1,800 is a flat fee for three years and is paid by the school. Lauren Hertz, The Arizona Republic, 16 Sep. 2022 In exchange for keeping their entire commission, La Rosa agents pay a flat transaction fee for every sale, along with a monthly fee. Tim Barker, Orlando Sentinel, 16 Sep. 2022 Instead of charging a flat monthly fee, users can choose between $10, $20 and $30 tiers, each that come with a certain number of credits that can be spent on movies. Marisa Dellatto, Forbes, 25 Aug. 2022 Relying on one risks your own safety and damage to your vehicle, and could leave you stranded due to a problem as simple as a flat tire. Wes Siler, Outside Online, 24 Aug. 2022 Officers located the suspect vehicle, which had a flat tire, at the Speedway on Detroit Road at Bradley Road. Bruce Geiselman, cleveland, 20 Aug. 2022 On a very hot day in 1995, Matt Pettigrew and his sister, Ann, were birding along a desolate dirt road in southeastern Arizona’s Huachuca Mountains when their rental car got a flat tire. John Kelly, Washington Post, 16 Aug. 2022 There is so little weight on the front end that the car can be driven to a service station without damaging a flat front tire.Car and Driver, 11 Aug. 2022 Already multiple laps down after a Lap 24 incident that gave him a flat right-front tire, Kyle Larson suffered what appeared to be a brake failure on Lap 61 in a scary incident that was nearly much, much worse. Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, 31 July 2022
Noun
Jared Goff lobbed a pass to Swift in the right flat. Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press, 19 Sep. 2022 Alice and Amy bought a £505,000 two-bedroom flat in Walthamstow last year on the Help to Buy scheme. Lydia Spencer-elliot, refinery29.com, 25 Apr. 2022 In 2018, longtime Outside writer and passionate cyclist Andrew Tilin was killed when he was hit by a driver of a truck while fixing a flat on his bike outside Austin, Texas. Christopher Keyes, Outside Online, 4 May 2020 Spaghetti straps, the ballet flat, and pockets and zippers on dresses were all McCardell innovations. Rachel Tashjian, Harper's BAZAAR, 2 Sep. 2022 Till’s lynching—a catalyst that sparked the civil rights movement through the ’50s and ’60s—Mamie Till-Mobley lived in her mother’s 1897 two-flat in Chicago. Rachel Silva, ELLE Decor, 20 July 2022 The trio move into a small flat with extended family, and Rose gets a job as a hotel maid. Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 May 2022 The new 6th Street Viaduct crosses more industry than water, spanning a scruffy flat of lofts, warehouses and rail lines. Rachel Uranga, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2022 The fire broke out early Sunday in the basement of a two-story brick two-flat in the 4000 block of West Potomac Street. Stephanie Casanova, Chicago Tribune, 30 June 2022
Adverb
If McBride is hinting that Carol will be back, and Reedus is flat-out promising it, what does Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple have to say about all of this? Dalton Ross, EW.com, 6 Sep. 2022 There are ways in which schools can make their NIL cases directly to prospects – or players who have entered the transfer portal - without flat-out offering them incentives. Steve Megargee, Chron, 31 Aug. 2022 Like a flat-out drop on a short inside route early in the scrimmage.San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Aug. 2022 Trump’s and many Republicans’ suggestions that the search was political in nature and evidence of some sort of state overreach are flat-out wrong. Eli Stokolsstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2022 My dating life since choosing celibacy has been met with skepticism, resignation, ghosting, and flat-out shock. Desiree Johnson, refinery29.com, 9 Aug. 2022 Critic Bob Lefsetz crossed the line calling Taylor dumb, naive, and a flat-out bad singer following her 2010 Grammys performance with Stevie Nicks. Maggie Horton, Country Living, 2 Aug. 2022 Could be an option if the Heat seek a flat-out bucket getter, perhaps if the anticipation is of moving Tyler Herro in a trade. Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 20 June 2022 JESSE GREEN Theater, particularly musical theater, has often abetted the distortion and flat-out erasure of inconvenient histories.New York Times, 27 May 2022
Verb
The process is pretty straightforward: Find a rough surface, and place the top of the can flat against it. Christopher Michel, Country Living, 20 Apr. 2022 By flatting the top, more main string gets lengthened, also improving control. Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 21 Jan. 2020 Lead is harmful at any dose, and especially toxic to the nervous system; arsenic can flat-out kill you, the inspector general wrote. Zoë Schlanger, Quartz, 19 Nov. 2019 The main assumptions are 11 million barrels a day of crude oil production, Brent flat at $65 a barrel, net refining margins of $3 a barrel and chemicals net margins of $100 a tonne.Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2019 Brian Snyder, Arizona Republic One can flat shoot it. Duane Rankin, azcentral, 3 July 2019 Thoughtfully, my mother suspected this might be the case, and a few days before the wedding found an ideal backup: Manolo Blahnik flats with ample space for injured toes. Alexandra Macon, Vogue, 12 July 2019 Plus, the dude can flat-out sing, though no one else matches his pitch-perfect acting turn.USA TODAY, 26 June 2019 The fashionable royal has shown us that flats like knee-high boots and sneakers can be just as stylish (and functional) on the job, and yesterday was no exception. Erica Gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, 29 Mar. 2019 See More
Word History
Etymology
Adjective, Noun, Adverb, and Verb
Middle English, from Old Norse flatr; akin to Old High German flaz flat, and probably to Greek platys broad — more at place