These words refer to taste, odours and other sensations that are unassertive in character. Bland is the most specific of these, referring most appropriately to food that has not been heavily spiced: The doctor recommended a bland , salt-free diet for the patient. In other uses, the word may refer similarly to something of even disposition, without extremes, or lacking in tension: the bland domestic atmosphere in the house, free of argument or petty bickering; a bland , hazy spring day, neither too warm nor too cool. While these uses give a positive connotation, the word can become negative in tone when it suggests a lack of desirable excitement, flavour or interest: the bland , anonymous cooking of the English; a bland novel that I began but couldn’t finish; the bland attitude of many lowland farmers despite the flood warning.

Moderate is more neutral in tone than bland, being simply descriptive of a middle ground between extremes, without necessarily suggesting a positive or negative evaluation: a moderate winter and summer; a moderate conservative. Juxtaposed with a bad extreme, however, the word can give an approving tone: a reign that was thought moderate and tolerant after the blood-baths of the previous ruler. Both gentle and mild suggest an avoidance of extremes, but with a more forthrightly approving tone than moderate has. Gentle suggests a slight use of force to gain a result or a tender consideration for someone else: a gentle breeze of the patio; a gentle way of reprimanding her son. Unlike gentle , mild does not point to restrained power or considerate behaviour so much as it indicates something thoroughly without harshness by its very nature: mild autumn weather; mild suburban faces. Like bland , however, mild can suggest something so toned-down as to be uninteresting or unexciting: a comedy that offers only mild amusement; disclosures that were mild compared to those still forthcoming. The negative tone here is still far less intense or thoroughgoing than is true for bland .

Soothing is the most positive in tone of all these words. Something might be gentle or mild and still not necessarily beneficial. By contrast, soothing suggests sensations that are positively comforting, helpful or healing, either by the removal of irritation or by the application of something to overcome it: listening to the soothing silence; soothing ointment to relieve her sunburn. Dull compares strikingly with soothing in suggesting the complete absence of anything pleasurable. As such, is almost exclusively stresses, and with greater force, possibilities inherent in bland or mild : a dull evening playing cards with the neighbours; dull meals completely lacking in zest. Dull may of course apply more descriptively, like moderate , to low-key sensations: a dull grey sky; an artist who tended to use a palette of dull , subtly shaded colours.