anodyne

Advancedzipf 2.18

Pronunciation

/ˈænədaɪn/(AN-uh-dyne)

Part of speech

adjective / nounformal

Chinese

不会引起争议的；无害的（也指止痛剂）

Definition

Not likely to provoke dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so; (medical) a painkilling drug.

Word family

  • (no common derivatives)

Collocations

  • anodyne statement
  • anodyne remarks
  • anodyne response
  • anodyne platitudes

Examples

  1. 1.The CEO issued an anodyne statement that acknowledged the problem without accepting blame. (deliberately inoffensive)
  2. 2.His speech was full of anodyne platitudes that satisfied no one. (bland, harmless)

Synonyms

  • bland/blænd/— lacking strong qualities
  • inoffensive/ˌɪnəˈfɛnsɪv/— not objectionable
  • innocuous/ɪˈnɒkjuəs/— not harmful

Etymology

from Greek "anodynos" — an- (without) + odyne (pain) — without pain — originally a painkiller, now used figuratively for painlessly dull content