ba·nal   

Function: adjective

Etymology:  French, from Middle French, of compulsory feudal service, possessed in common, commonplace, from ban summoning of the king's vassals + -al

     Wanting originality, freshness, or novelty : failing to stimulate, appeal, or arrest attention :

<the poor working girl of the banal songs -- J.T.Farrell>

<little books on great subjects are generally intolerably banal -- Times Literary Supplement>

<the food there was banal -- Jean Stafford>

<the new Custom House, a towering structure, sound in plan but banal in decoration -- Lewis Mumford>