If [Lord George] Bentinck had been reared for office, if, as Wilberforce recommends, he had been harnessed early to official duty, and if he had been sent into Parliament a platitudinous thing, made up of statistics, red tape and priggishness, like Mr. [Benjamin] Disraeli's Tadpole and Taper, we could well understand his strong mind breaking the thralls of official conventionality, and forcing him to become the man he was, armed at all points, ever ready for attack or defence; […]

“House Decoration” is written with somewhat less verbosity and with a good deal more taste and common sense. But it is, however detailed in its suggestions, equally platitudinous where it is sensible.

As [Charles] de Gaulle's minister, he André Malraux] was able to visit China in 1965 and to persuade the rather baffled Chinese authorities to grant him an audience with Mao [Zedong]. […] The meeting was brief and platitudinous, but in later accounts […] Malraux turned it into a major summit of great minds.

But surely it is possible for those tasked with ensuring public safety to imagine creative solutions beyond platitudinous expressions of sympathy, extra concrete barriers and additional airport security checks?

Platitudinous

Meaning

Adj

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