From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
banal
adj 1: obvious and dull; "trivial conversation"; "commonplace
prose" [syn: commonplace, trivial]
2: repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse; "bromidic
sermons"; "his remarks were trite and commonplace";
"hackneyed phrases"; "a stock answer"; "repeating
threadbare jokes"; "parroting some timeworn axiom"; "the
trite metaphor `hard as nails'" [syn: commonplace,
hackneyed, old-hat, shopworn, {stock(a)},
threadbare, timeworn, tired, trite, well-worn]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Banal \Ban"al\, a. [F., fr. ban an ordinance.]
Commonplace; trivial; hackneyed; trite.
[1913 Webster]