Describes something that fails to excite you, stir you, or make you want to act. The focus is on the effect on the audience: an uninspiring speech leaves the room cold, an uninspiring view is just... a view, an uninspiring set of job options makes you want to stay where you are. Very common in writing about politics, sport, careers, and travel.

The pairing with *uninspired* is worth holding onto, because the -ed/-ing difference does the same work as in *bored/boring*. *Uninspired* points at how the thing was made, or at how a person feels inside; *uninspiring* points at what the thing does to you. A painting can be uninspired (the painter had no fresh idea) and therefore uninspiring (you feel nothing looking at it) — but you can also find an ambitious, carefully made thing uninspiring simply because it does not move you.

Like *uninspired*, it is a quiet, polite-sounding criticism, often used exactly when the speaker wants to sound fair rather than harsh. "An uninspiring start to the season" means the team is losing dully.