vanilla

plural vanillas · alternative archaic vanille · alternative clipping nilla

1. countableAny tropical climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially Vanilla planifolia), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food or in perfumes.

   Vanilla itself was transplanted from Madagascar, the main source of the spice, to Polynesia a century ago.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 242

2. countableThe fruit or bean of the vanilla plant.

   Synonyms: vanilla bean

3. uncountableThe extract of the fruit of the vanilla plant.

   Synonyms: vanilla extract

4. uncountableThe distinctive fragrant flavour/flavor characteristic of vanilla extract.
5. uncountableAny artificially produced homologue of vanilla extract, principally vanillin produced from lignin from the paper industry or from petrochemicals.

   Synonyms: imitation vanilla

6. countableslanglifestyleSomeone who is not into fetishism.
7. slanguncountablegamesAn unmodded version of a game.

   Synonyms: stock

8. countableuncountableA yellowish-white colour, like that of vanilla ice cream.
9. countablederogatoryethnicsluruncountableA white person.

comparative more vanilla · superlative most vanilla · alternative archaic vanille · alternative clipping nilla

1. usuallyOf vanilla.

   A mass of folders and binders. One, vanilla in colour, catches her eye.

   2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN

2. colloquialretronymcomputingStandard, plain, default, unmodified, basic.

   vanilla JavaScript

   1 more example

   BBCFiles is a BBC file converter that converts between some of the various types of files used by BBC emulators on Acorn & PC formats. It supports 6502Em style applications & scripts, /ssd dfs disc images (supporting watford double catalogue), vanilla directories, /zip of bbc files with /inf files (with limitations) and directory of bbc files with /inf files.

   2001, Michael Foot, “BeebIt 0.32 and BBCFiles 0.29 released”, in comp.sys.acorn.announce (Usenet)

3. lifestyleNot kinky, not involving BDSM.

   Sebastian could never do that, be in a marriage with a vanilla woman.

   2014, Christina Thacher, The Negotiation: A BDSM Romance, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   An uncharacteristically vanilla threesome and non-cute realist rendering - derived paradoxically from tracing drawings rather than photographs.

   2006, Felix Lance Falkon, Gay Art: A Historic Collection, →ISBN, page 136

   While Dominick was more of a vanilla kind of a guy himself, he wasn't a total dunce when it came to the kinkier sides of things.

   2010, Chloe Stowe, Hard Water, →ISBN, page 37

   Synonyms: normophilic

4. Plain; conventional; unimaginative.

   a vanilla rendition of the concerto

   1 more example

   The further right or left you go, the more likely you are to eventually come around to hating Jews. On the left, this is plain to see. From the Corbyn-era trend to attack Israel for all the world's sins, to the self-hating asaJews that tweeted enthusiastically about October 7 being a 'day of celebration' to previously vanilla comedian Reginald Hunter retweeting posts about the evils of the Talmud.

   2024 August 19, Josh Kaplan, “Why are Jews expected to put up with rampant social media antisemitism?”, in The Jewish Chronicle, London: Jewish Chronicle Media Limited, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Oct 2025