pabulum
Insipid intellectual fare
Pabulum is bland intellectual fare—ideas, entertainment, or writing so diluted and inoffensive as to be worthless.
The word carries contempt: The speech was pure pabulum designed to offend no one.
Originally pabulum meant food or nourishment generally, but the insipid-mush sense now dominates, influenced by Pablum, a brand of baby cereal.
Fixed method or notation
- cerealProcessed grain for breakfast
- pureeSmoothly blended food
- mashCrushed soft mixture
- milkMammalian nursing fluid
bottle · feeding · weaning · nursing · strained · spoon-fed · infant · newborn
Without flavor or interest
- vapidDull, without depth
- banalUnoriginal and dull
- jejuneNaive and uninteresting
- anodyneRelieves pain or offense
trite · platitudinous · hackneyed · clichéd · unoriginal · superficial · shallow · uninspiring
Mental creations or plans
- contentWhat something contains
- materialPhysical matter; pertinent
- discourseFormal communication on subjects
- readingInterpreting written text
literature · entertainment · media · programming · fare · fodder · consumption · diet
Means of living
- nutritionBodily use of food
- nutrimentSubstance providing sustenance
- alimentFood or nourishment
- alimentationProviding food or nourishment
nurture · provisions · food · fare · victuals · edibles · subsistence · support
formula
Fixed method or notation
milk · bottle · feeding · weaning · nursing · strained · spoon-fed · infant · newborn
insipid
Without flavor or interest
anodyne · trite · platitudinous · hackneyed · clichéd · unoriginal · superficial · shallow · uninspiring · prosaic
ideas
Mental creations or plans
- contentWhat something contains
- materialPhysical matter; pertinent
- discourseFormal communication on subjects
reading · literature · entertainment · media · programming · fare · fodder · consumption · diet · input
sustenance
Means of living
alimentation · nurture · provisions · food · fare · victuals · edibles · subsistence · support · fuel
pabulumsubstance
Physical material with mass
depth · profundity · intellectual rigor · gravitas · erudition
pabulumprovocation
Act that triggers response
iconoclasm · avant-garde · original thought · radical ideas · radical thought