Insipid means so weak in flavour that it is dull. An insipid soup, insipid wine, insipid and watery.
It is a criticism of food that tastes of nothing much, and it is stronger than bland because it implies disappointment. Figuratively it describes anything without character: insipid music, an insipid character. Note that the Latin means not savoury, from sapidus — the same sapere that gives sage and sapient, so an insipid thing is literally tasteless and, at a stretch, unwise.
1adjectiveinsipidSo weak in flavour that it is dull.
“The soup was insipid, so I added plenty of salt and pepper.”
insipid is a quality of flavourlessness.
Latin insipidus is in- plus sapidus, savoury, from sapere, to taste or be wise. Sage, sapient and savour come from the same tasting.
Proto-Indo-European
*seh₁p-
French
insipide
English, today
insipid
Built from
Borrowed from French insipide. From French insipide, from Latin īnsipidus (“tasteless”), from in- (“not”) + sapidus (“savory”). In some senses, perhaps influenced by insipient (“unwise, foolish, stupid”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Texture & Touch