jejune

jejune
jejune
is pronounced ji-joon. It properly means ‘meagre, scanty; dull or uninteresting’ and is used primarily of ideas or arguments. It is derived from the Latin word jejunus meaning ‘fasting’, and originally meant ‘without food’ in English. The writer Kingsley Amis famously defended the traditional meaning of jejune against users of a newer meaning ‘puerile, childish, naive’, which first appeared in a play by George Bernard Shaw

• (His jejune credulity as to the absolute value of his concepts —Arms and the Man, 1989).

This meaning may have arisen by a false association with juvenile, and it is now the predominant one:

• Mother seemed jejune, at times, with her enthusiasms and her sense of mission —M. Howard, 1982

• There's no passion in your jejune little world, is there? —weblog, BrE 2005.

Despite currency, this is an awkward and cumbersome usage and it can usually be avoided in favour of readily available alternatives such as childish, infantile, or juvenile, and innocent, guileless, ingenuous, or naive. In some cases, it is impossible to tell which meaning is intended:

• Perhaps your superiors realized that your rhetoric is sloppy, tendentious, jejune and banal —weblog, AmE 2003.


Modern English usage. 2014.

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Synonyms:
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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Jejune — is the name of a band which formed in the mid 90s at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. The band has been commonly identified with the emo genre, particularly the late 90s indie emo scene. The three founding members, Arabella… …   Wikipedia

  • Jejune — Datos generales Origen Boston, Massachusetts, Estados Unidos Información artís …   Wikipedia Español

  • Jejune — Je*june , a. [L. jejunus fasting, hungry, dry, barren, scanty; of unknown origin.] [1913 Webster] 1. Lacking matter; empty; void of substance. [1913 Webster] 2. Void of interest; barren; meager; dry; as, a jejune narrative. 3. Juvenile; childish; …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • jejune — I (dull) adjective bleak, boresome, boring, colorless, common, commonplace, drearisome, dreary, dry, flat, flavorless, hollow, indifferent, insipid, monotonous, ordinary, plain, ponderous, prosaic, prosy, stolid, tame, tasteless, tedious, thin,… …   Law dictionary

  • jejune — (adj.) 1610s, dull in the mind, flat, insipid, from L. ieiunus empty, dry, barren, lit. fasting, hungry, of obscure origin …   Etymology dictionary

  • jejune — insipid, vapid, flat, wishy washy, inane, banal Analogous words: *thin, slight, slim, tenuous: arid, *dry: attenuated, extenuated, diluted, thinned (see THIN vb): *meager, skimpy, exiguous Contrasted words: lavish, *profuse, lush, luxuriant,… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • jejune — ► ADJECTIVE 1) naive and simplistic. 2) (of ideas or writings) dull. ORIGIN Latin jejunus fasting, barren …   English terms dictionary

  • jejune — [ji jo͞on′] adj. [L jejunus, empty, dry, barren] 1. not nourishing; barren 2. not interesting or satisfying; dull or empty 3. [? by confusion with JUVENILE] not mature; childish jejunely adv. jejuneness n …   English World dictionary

  • jejune — jejunely, adv. jejuneness, jejunity, n. /ji joohn /, adj. 1. without interest or significance; dull; insipid: a jejune novel. 2. juvenile; immature; childish: jejune behavior. 3. lacking knowledge or experience; uninformed: jejune attempts to… …   Universalium

  • jejune — [[t]ʤɪʤu͟ːn[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED (disapproval) If you describe something or someone as jejune, you are criticizing them for being very simple and unsophisticated. [FORMAL] They were of great service in correcting my jejune generalizations. 2) ADJ… …   English dictionary

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