banality
/bəˈnælɪti/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.42 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A feudal right or obligation, especially the obligation for a peasant to grind grain at the lord's mill, or the profits accruing from such rights.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The concept of the banality of evil came into prominence following the publication of Hannah Arendt's 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, which was based on the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem."
- "The law of banality, one of the most oppressive products of feudalism, was revived for the advantage of the nobility."
- "Other banalities included the lord's exclusive right to hunt over the land, his monopoly over fishing, and his right to keep the dove-cote whose feathery occupants ate a peasant's standing crops."
- "In fact corvées, champarts, and rights of banality not only continued but had been increased in the course of the seventeenth century."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French