vanillafy

English

Etymology

vanilla +‎ -fy

Verb

vanillafy (third-person singular simple present vanillafies, present participle vanillafying, simple past and past participle vanillafied)

1. (informal, transitive) To make generic, tame, or anodyne.
   • 2001 January 1, Matthew Kalesh, “A Feast for the Senses”, in Gifts & Decorative Accessories:

     In Carver's words, the interior had been "vanillafied" into a colorless muddle that, while perhaps fitting for a modern pharmacy, was not the right kind of environment for a store that emphasized beauty and sensuality.

   • 2004 January 20, Charles Soto, “Re: How to stop verbal bullying (was Re: Rant: Over indulgent parents strike again)”, in rec.autos.driving‎^[1] (Usenet):

     They WILL be exposed to different cultures, unless specific measures are taken to vanillafy their experiences.

   • 2012, Guy Adams, Sherlock: The Casebook, BBC Books, →ISBN, page 29:

     'We like our heroes to be complex,' he [Benedict Cumberbatch] continues. 'We don't like two-dimensional stereotypes. They don't last very long. Also, for an actor, it's a lot more fun to play someone who has shape and edge than someone who has been softened and "vanillafied".

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:vanillafy.