Platitudinizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Communicating ideas or statements that are clichéd and lack originality or depth
2. Speaking or writing in a manner that uses obvious and uninteresting remarks repeated often
3. Conveying thoughts through predictable phrases that offer little insight or freshness

Etymology: "Platitude" is the older word here, and it is the one with the surprising history. It was borrowed into English from French "plat" meaning flat, and the suffix "-itude" was added, so the word carries the sense of something flattened out, dull and lacking any raised point. Platitudinizing, the act of producing such flat remarks, is built on that base. The verb itself is a later formation. It takes "platitude" and adds "-ize", the common English suffix for making or doing something. The form was shaped on analogy with other English adjectives ending in "-tudinous", which are built from Latin "-tūdin-", the stem of the Latin suffix "-tūdō". So the ending is not a direct Latin inheritance into this verb but a pattern English speakers followed.