Standard Lemma guide

tasteless

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈteɪstləs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: T EY1 S T L AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having no flavour; bland; insipid.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Near-synonym: untasteable
  • They accused the cook of being a hack, claiming that the soup was tasteless.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: untasteable

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: untasty

2

adj

Meaning 2

Lacking delicacy, refinement, and good taste; unbecoming; crass.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • They accused the designer of being a tasteless hack.
  • That was a rather tasteless attack on the designer, especially given that many people like the design.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: untasteful, atrocious, bedizened, blatant, blingish, brash, campy, catchpenny, chichi, chintzy, corny, crass, crude, flashy, flaunting, florid, flossy, froufrou, garish, gauche, gaudy, gay, glaring, gross, gussied up, hideous, kitsch, kitschy, loud, meretricious, naff, obtrusive, ostentatious, pizazzy, pretentious, ritzy, raffish, schlocky, showy, snazzy, splendiferous, tacky, tasteless, tawdry, tinselly, too much, trinkety, unbecoming, vain, whorish, zesty

Antonyms: tasteful

3

adjective

Meaning 3

lacking aesthetic or social taste

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: tasteful

4

adjective

Meaning 4

lacking flavor

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: tasty

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English taste Proto-Indo-European *lewh1- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English tasteless From taste + -less.

Across languages

Translations

92 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: անհամ (anham) — having no flavour
  • Azerbaijani: dadsız — having no flavour
  • Azerbaijani: tamsız — having no flavour
  • Bulgarian: безвкусен (bezvkusen) — having no flavour
  • Catalan: sonso — having no flavour
  • Catalan: sense sabor — having no flavour
  • Catalan: sense gust — having no flavour
  • Catalan: insípid — having no flavour
  • Chinese Cantonese: 淡 (taam5) — having no flavour
  • Chinese Cantonese: 冇味 (mou5 mei6) — having no flavour
  • Chinese Cantonese: 淡茂茂 (taam5 mau4 mau4) — having no flavour
  • Chinese Cantonese: 淡而無味 /淡而无味 (taam5 ji4 mou4 mei6) — having no flavour
  • Chinese Mandarin: 淡 (dàn) — having no flavour
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不美味 (bù měiwèi) — having no flavour
  • Chinese Mandarin: 淡而無味 /淡而无味 (dàn'érwúwèi) — having no flavour
  • Danish: smagløs — having no flavour
  • Dutch: smakeloos — having no flavour
  • Finnish: mauton — having no flavour
  • French: fade — having no flavour
  • Georgian: უგემური (ugemuri) — having no flavour
  • German: geschmacklos — having no flavour
  • Greek: άγευστος (ágefstos) — having no flavour
  • Ancient Greek: ἄγευστος (ágeustos) — having no flavour
  • Hungarian: ízetlen — having no flavour
  • Hungarian: íztelen — having no flavour
  • Indonesian: tawar — having no flavour
  • Irish: leamh — having no flavour
  • Italian: insipido — having no flavour
  • Italian: insapore — having no flavour
  • Japanese: 味のない (aji no nai) — having no flavour
  • Japanese: 不味い (mazui) — having no flavour
  • Kazakh: дәмсіз (dämsız) — having no flavour
  • Korean: 맛없다 (madeopda) — having no flavour
  • Central Kurdish: بێتام (bêtam) — having no flavour
  • Northern Kurdish: bêtam — having no flavour
  • Ladino: shavdo — having no flavour
  • Latin: insulsus — having no flavour
  • Macedonian: безвкусен (bezvkusen) — having no flavour
  • Māori: kōwhau — having no flavour
  • Norwegian: flau — having no flavour
  • Norwegian Bokmål: smakløs — having no flavour
  • Norwegian Bokmål: smaklaus — having no flavour
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: smaklaus — having no flavour
  • Occitan: insipid — having no flavour
  • Plautdietsch: schmaklooss — having no flavour
  • Plautdietsch: fleiw — having no flavour
  • Polish: bez smaku — having no flavour
  • Portuguese: insípido — having no flavour
  • Romanian: fără gust — having no flavour
  • Romanian: insipid — having no flavour
  • Romanian: fad — having no flavour
  • Romanian: searbăd — having no flavour
  • Russian: безвку́сный (bezvkúsnyj) — having no flavour
  • Russian: пре́сный (présnyj) — having no flavour
  • Russian: невку́сный (nevkúsnyj) — having no flavour
  • Scottish Gaelic: ana-blasta — having no flavour
  • Spanish: insípido — having no flavour
  • Spanish: desabrido — having no flavour
  • Spanish: soso — having no flavour
  • Swedish: smaklös — having no flavour
  • Tagalog: mayapa — having no flavour
  • Telugu: రుచిలేని (rucilēni) — having no flavour
  • Thai: จืด (jʉ̀ʉt) — having no flavour
  • Turkish: tatsız — having no flavour
  • Turkish: lezzetsiz — having no flavour
  • Turkish: yavan — having no flavour
  • Ottoman Turkish: طاتسز (tatsız) — having no flavour
  • Ottoman Turkish: لذتسز (lezzetsiz) — having no flavour
  • Ottoman Turkish: یاوان (yavan) — having no flavour
  • Vietnamese: lạt — having no flavour
  • Vietnamese: nhạt — having no flavour
  • Armenian: անհամ (anham) — lacking refinement
  • Azerbaijani: zövqsüz — lacking refinement
  • Bulgarian: нетактичен (netaktičen) — lacking refinement
  • Bulgarian: неприличен (nepriličen) — lacking refinement
  • Chinese Mandarin: 粗魯 /粗鲁 (cūlǔ) — lacking refinement
  • Danish: smagløs — lacking refinement
  • Dutch: smakeloos — lacking refinement
  • Finnish: mauton — lacking refinement
  • Georgian: უგემოვნო (ugemovno) — lacking refinement
  • German: geschmacklos — lacking refinement
  • Hungarian: ízléstelen — lacking refinement
  • Latin: insulsus — lacking refinement
  • Macedonian: безвкусен (bezvkusen) — lacking refinement
  • Norwegian Bokmål: smakløs — lacking refinement
  • Norwegian Bokmål: smaklaus — lacking refinement
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: smaklaus — lacking refinement
  • Russian: беста́ктный (bestáktnyj) — lacking refinement
  • Russian: безвку́сный (bezvkúsnyj) — lacking refinement
  • Scottish Gaelic: ana-blasta — lacking refinement
  • Spanish: vulgar — lacking refinement
  • Spanish: corriente — lacking refinement