SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
pedestrian
adjective
Ordinary and lacking imagination or distinction.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
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Ordinary and unimaginative
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topPedestrian evaluates style or ideas as lacking distinction; workmanlike can praise competent practical work.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See pedestrian in use
The competent but pedestrian design did little to catch visitors' attention.
The speech was pedestrian: ordinary and unimaginative.
1 more example
Tessa's first story draft described a prosaic morning of receipts, errands, and laundry. An ordinary subject could still become interesting, but the dialogue felt insipid because every character answered with the same bland agreement. Her writing partner called the ending pedestrian: it used a familiar surprise without giving readers a fresh reason to care about what happened.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license