bland

• IPA^(key): /blænd/
• Rhymes: -ænd

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Borrowed from Latin blandus (“pleasant, flattering”).

bland (comparative blander, superlative blandest)

1. Having a soothing effect; not irritating or stimulating.

   a bland oil

   a bland diet

2. Lacking in taste or flavor.

   Synonyms: flat, tasteless, wallow; see also Thesaurus:insipid

   The coffee was bland.

3. Lacking in vigor.
   • 2012, John Shepherd, David Horn, Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World:

     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 […]

4. (figurative) Lacking interest; boring; dull.

   Synonyms: lackluster, wan; see also Thesaurus:boring, Thesaurus:dim

   bland comment

   • 1996, “Country House”, in The Great Escape, performed by Blur:

     He's reading Balzac and knocking back Prozac / It's a helping hand that makes you feel wonderfully bland

5. (now rare) Mild; soft, gentle, balmy; smooth in manner; suave.
   • 1818, John Keats, Sonnet:

     Where didst thou find, young Bard, thy sounding lyre? / Where the bland accent, and the tender tone?

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “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.

• blandness

From Middle English blanden, blonden, from Old English blandan (“to blend, mix, mingle; trouble, disturb, corrupt”), from Proto-Germanic *blandaną (“to mix, blend”). Cognate with Icelandic blanda, Norwegian, Danish blande, Swedish blanda. See also blend.

bland (third-person singular simple present blands, present participle blanding, simple past and past participle blanded)

1. (transitive, UK dialectal) To mix; blend; mingle.
2. (transitive, UK dialectal) To connect; associate.

From Middle English bland, from Old English bland, blond (“blending, mixture, confusion”), from Proto-Germanic *blandą (“a mixing, mixture”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ- (“to grow turbid, dim, see badly, be blind”). Cognate with Icelandic blanda (“a mixture of liquids, especially of hot whey and water”).

• blaind, blaund (Scotland)

bland (countable and uncountable, plural blands)

1. (UK dialectal) Mixture; union.
2. A summer beverage prepared from the whey of churned milk, common among the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands.

   Hypernym: fermented milk product

   Coordinate terms: kefir, koumiss

• in bland

• “bland”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

bland

1. imperative of blande

Borrowed from Latin blandus.

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bland (strong nominative masculine singular blander, not comparable)

1. (medicine) bland

• “bland” in Duden online
• “bland” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

• IPA^(key): /plant/
• Rhymes: -ant

bland n (genitive singular blands, no plural)

1. mix

• bland í poka

• blanda

bland

1. imperative of blande

bland

1. imperative of blande

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

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bland

1. among

• bland annat