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Synonyms

tasteless

American  
[teyst-lis] / ˈteɪst lɪs /

adjective

  1. having no taste or flavor; insipid.

  2. dull; uninteresting.

  3. lacking in aesthetic quality or capacity; devoid of good taste.

    a houseful of tasteless furnishings; a tasteless director of stale, dreary films.

  4. lacking in politeness, seemliness, tact, etc.; unmannerly; insensitive.

    a tasteless remark.

  5. lacking the physical sense of taste.

tasteless British  
/ ˈteɪstlɪs /

adjective

  1. lacking in flavour; insipid

  2. lacking social or aesthetic taste

  3. rare unable to taste

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • tastelessly adverb
  • tastelessness noun

Etymology

Origin of tasteless

First recorded in 1585–95; taste + -less

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Some in the GOP regard his tasteless rhetoric and personal attacks as strikes against him.

From The Wall Street Journal

Prisoners on kitchen detail lugged in great buckets of gruel made of wheat and peas, tasteless but nourishing.

From Literature

It was a thin broth made from boiled elk hooves and a few slivers of dried deer heart, bulked up with rowanberries and the tough, tasteless tree-mushroom that the clans call auroch’s ears.

From Literature

There were a few looks thrown my way, not especially friendly, so I kept my expression bland as I chewed, the bread tasteless in my mouth.

From Literature

The bread and cheese lay tasteless now in his mouth.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.