inexpressive

Inexpressive is an adjective used to describe something that lacks expression, emotion, or vivid meaning. It can apply to a person’s face, voice, or performance, as well as to text that conveys little nuance. The term is primarily descriptive and neutral, but it can carry a critical tone when used to comment on a failure to communicate or engage an audience.

The word combines the prefix in- (not) with expressive, from Latin expressus meaning "pressed out" or clearly stated. In English, inexpressive has been in use since the early modern period and is common in everyday language as well as in literary and scholarly writing to describe minimal or absent expressivity.

Contexts include facial expression, vocal delivery, and interpretive performance. An inexpressive face may be described as blank or unreadable; an inexpressive delivery can be judged as flat or unengaged. In psychology, related terms such as blunted affect are used for clinical descriptions rather than casual speech.

Related terms include expressionless, impassive, stoic, and deadpan; the opposite is expressive. Although typically used to critique a lack of emotion, inexpressive style can also be a deliberate artistic choice in minimalist literature or performance, where restraint is used to draw attention to other elements.

See also: expression, expressionlessness, expressivity, blunted affect.