unremarkable

comparative more unremarkable · superlative most unremarkable

1. Not remarkable.

   The temptation is to regard him [John Ogdon] as an idiot savant, a big talent bottled inside a recalcitrant body and accompanied by a personality that seems not just unremarkable, but almost entirely blank.

   2014 May 11, Ivan Hewett, “Piano Man: a Life of John Ogdon by Charles Beauclerk, review: A new biography of the great British pianist whose own genius destroyed him [print version: A colossus off-key, 10 May 2014, p. R27]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)

   1 more example

   Delivered to British Railways' Royston depot (near Barnsley) as D3378 in August 1957, the '08e' prototype led an unremarkable life for its first 35 years, working from Farnley Junction, Healey Mills and Holbeck before being withdrawn (for the first time) from Sheffield's Tinsley depot in February 1992.

   2023 October 4, Ben Jones, “'08e' sparks new life into trusty shunters”, in RAIL, number 993, page 48

   Synonyms: nondescript, commonplace, jejune, mundane, ordinary, average, medial, basic

plural unremarkables

1. Someone or something that is not remarkable.

   Sounds like two great pumpkins to me. And a remaining field of unremarkables.

   2012, Mike Michalowicz, “How We Do Things Down on the Farm”, in The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field, New York, N.Y.: Portfolio / Penguin, →ISBN, page 83

   3 more examples

   On a pelagic trip to Stellwagen Bank off the Boston coast, I watched a group of this type take a humpback whale in stride, get mildly stirred by the schoolmarm’s jaeger, and merely glance at a shearwater. But they changed their tune when a Sabine’s gull emerged from a flock of unremarkables. “A Sabine’s!” yelled one. “I can’t believe it!” She rummaged her checklist out of her backpack.

   2000, Ann Taylor, “Watching the Watchers”, in Watching Birds: Reflections on the Wing, Camden, Me.: Ragged Mountain Press / McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 8

   His sons sensed that he was not a great man; he was no one who would have become Hajj under normal circumstances. He belonged with the other unremarkables in the middle of the pack.

   2008, S. L. Linnea [pseudonym; Sharon Linnéa; Barbara K. Sherer], “January 27, 2007, 12:10 p.m.”, in Treasure of Eden (Eden Thrillers; 3), New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, →ISBN, pages 281–282

   She looked around the lawn, hoping to see another of the guys she had so looked forward to showing him, but there was only the usual late-morning spread of unremarkables, smoking their cigarettes and drinking their coffees and reading their yellowed paperbacks in preparation for their afternoon classes.

   2015, Belinda McKeon, “Moonfoam and Silver (1998)”, in Tender, London: Picador, →ISBN, section 2, page 128