unmeaning

[ uhn-mee-ning ]

adjective

1. not meaning mean meaning anything; devoid of intelligence, sense, or significance, as words or actions; pointless; empty.
2. expressionless, vacant, or unintelligent, as the face; insipid.

unmeaning

/ ʌnˈmiːnɪŋ /

adjective

1. having no meaning
2. showing no intelligence; vacant

   an unmeaning face

Derived Forms

• unˈmeaningly, adverb
• unˈmeaningness, noun

Other Words From

• un·meaning·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of unmeaning¹

First recorded in 1695–1705; un- ¹ + meaning

Example Sentences

This they would sing, as a chorus, to words which to many would seem unmeaning jargon, but which, nevertheless, were full of meaning to themselves.

From Literature

“Substance has yielded to form, the religion of the heart to the observance of unmeaning forms and ceremonies.”

From New York Times

The old woman, wrinkled, dirty, clothed in an ill-sewn sack of sealskin, pointed at the little silken dress and at herself, and smiled: a sweet, unmeaning smile, like a baby’s.

From Literature

Immigrant voters were "corrupting the ballot box - that great palladium of our liberty - into an unmeaning mockery", he fumed.

From BBC

“It aims at the palatial and attains the sham-palatial,” the anonymous reviewer wrote, describing the projecting cornice as “huge, umbrageous, unmeaning, irrelevant” and characteristic “of the cheapest and vulgarest kind of tenement houses.”

From New York Times

Related Words

• absurd
• empty
• futile
• hollow
• inconsequential
• insignificant
• pointless
• senseless
• trivial
• unimportant
• useless
• vague
• worthless