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What is the antonym of insightful? I want to say that the information provided is not insightful. I searched in various dictionaries. The most common antonym is unperceptive, but that does not exactly carry the meaning of un-insightful.

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insightless is not unheard of – Unreason Nov 3 '11 at 16:11
Information itself is not insightful or shallow or trite. Those are all descriptive of a person who is attempting to come up with information. Information is simple or complex. A trite person may be only capable of coming up with simple information. – Mitch Nov 3 '11 at 16:52
2  
What's wrong with uninsightful? I have heard and seen people use it. – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner Nov 3 '11 at 17:17
There is plenty of good antonyms at the thesaurus.com/browse/insightful page – altern Mar 14 '12 at 8:30
@altern: from that site: dense, insensitive, unaware, unobservant – Mitch Mar 14 '12 at 16:04

8 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

You could use obvious or pedestrian to imply that any old Joe off the street could have thought up the same thing. Obvious is the word the US Patent Office uses to indicate that an idea isn't original or creative enough to be patentable.

For someone who flat out doesn't come up with much in the way of ideas at all, the term used the most is probably unimaginative.

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I like obvious than pedestrian. The word pedestrian does not sound common-speak. – karlos Nov 3 '11 at 14:50
@karlos - Me too. Calling someone or something pedestrian makes the speaker sound rather snooty. It's really best used if the target of the phrase themselves evidentally feels superior to everyone else (to hit them where it hurts). – T.E.D. Nov 3 '11 at 15:08
up vote 3 down vote

Obtuse - lacking in sharpness or quickness of sensibility and intellect.

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This should be accepted answer. – Riyad Parvez Mar 28 '12 at 1:51
up vote 1 down vote

How about ...

The information provided was unimaginative.

or

The information provided was shallow.

or

The information provided was trite.

or go with a negation like this ...

The information provided was less piercing and insightful than trite and unimaginative.

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I was thinking of trite at first. I like the negation example, because it gives context to what I am expecting as well. – karlos Nov 3 '11 at 14:52
up vote 1 down vote

insightful - Having or showing an accurate and deep understanding; perceptive.

superficial - Not thorough, deep, or complete; cursory

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up vote 0 down vote

The adjective insightful is defined as

exhibiting insight or clear and deep perception

Antonyms of this are: shortsighted or unperceptive, unperceiving (also the words others mentioned: superficial, obvious, shallow, trite; notice that it depends what you are denying insightful observer and insightful observation have different antonyms)

On a side note, I believe that you can coin a word with no problems i.e. in the spirit of the English language: insightless (and you would not be the first)

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up vote 0 down vote

The information provided is as clear as mud.

or

The information provided has a high cost-benefit ratio.

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up vote 0 down vote

May I suggest the word banal?

So lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring.

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up vote -1 down vote
  • Obscure
  • Obfuscated
  • Vague
  • Murky
  • Nebulous

Insightful connotes deep understanding and clear articulation. The above choices reflect the opposite of clarity in tought or expression

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Please could you expand this answer to explain these might be good choices of antonym? – Hugo Mar 14 '12 at 10:30

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