Dictionary

platitudinous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌplætɪˈtjuːdɪnəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /-ɾɪ-/ (General-American)
• /ˌplætɪˈt(j)ud(ə)nəs/ (General-American)
• /-ˈtʃuː-/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From platitude + -ous on analogy of other adjectives ending in -tudinous, from Latin -tūdin- + -ous, the oblique stem of -tūdō. Compare platitudinize.

Meanings

1. Characterised by clichés or platitudes.
   • Viewed simply as a novel, “Lolita” deals with situations and emotions that would remain exasperatingly vague to the reader had their expression been etiolated by means of platitudinous evasions. 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC:
   • If [Lord George] Bentinck had been reared for office, if, as Wilberforce recommends, he had been harnessed early to official duty, and if he had been sent into Parliament a platitudinous thing, made up of statistics, red tape and priggishness, like Mr. [Benjamin] Disraeli's Tadpole and Taper, we could well understand his strong mind breaking the thralls of official conventionality, and forcing him to become the man he was, armed at all points, ever ready for attack or defence; […] 1852 March, “Art. II.—Lord George Bentinck. Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography. By B. Disraeli, Member of Parliament for the County of Buckingham. London: Colburn and Co. 1851. [book review]”, in The Irish Quarterly Review, volume II, number V, Dublin: Published by W. B. Kelly, 8, Grafton-Street; London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, →OCLC, page 77:
   • But surely it is possible for those tasked with ensuring public safety to imagine creative solutions beyond platitudinous expressions of sympathy, extra concrete barriers and additional airport security checks? 2017 August 20, “The Observer view on the attacks in Spain: We must now give into fatalism on terror [editorial]”, in The Observer, London, archived from the original on 16 Sep 2017:
   • As [Charles] de Gaulle's minister, he [André Malraux] was able to visit China in 1965 and to persuade the rather baffled Chinese authorities to grant him an audience with Mao [Zedong]. […] The meeting was brief and platitudinous, but in later accounts […] Malraux turned it into a major summit of great minds. 2005 April 10, Christopher Hitchens, “‘Malraux’: One man’s fate [review of Malraux: A Life (2005) by Olivier Todd]”, in The New York Times:
   • “House Decoration” is written with somewhat less verbosity and with a good deal more taste and common sense. But it is, however detailed in its suggestions, equally platitudinous where it is sensible. 1877 April, “Household Art”, in The Carpet Trade Review. Devoted to the Interest of the Trade in Carpets, Upholstery Goods, Oil Cloths, Paper Hangings, Mattings, Linings, Stair Rods, etc., etc., volume 4, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Thomas A. Kennett, →OCLC, page 46, column 2:

Forms

Deriveds

unplatitudinous · platitudinously · platitudinousness

Relateds

platitudinarian · platitudinal · platitude · platitudinize · platitudise