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banal

banal, ordinary

adjective bah-NAL Rare

Also means

trite, commonplace

Usage Note

Banal is a one-way false friend: English borrowed it from French, but the French sense is more neutral — simply 'ordinary, unremarkable' — while English 'banal' is more pejorative. The feminine is banale, and the common plural is banals (the alternative banaux survives only in feudal/legal terms like moulins banaux). The derived noun banalité means a cliché or platitude.

Examples

"C'est une histoire assez banale."

Natural Translation

It is quite an ordinary story.

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