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Dull   /dəl/   Listen
Dull

adjective
(compar. duller; superl. dullest)
1.
Lacking in liveliness or animation.  "A dull political campaign" , "A large dull impassive man" , "Dull days with nothing to do" , "How dull and dreary the world is" , "Fell back into one of her dull moods"
2.
Emitting or reflecting very little light.  "Dull silver badly in need of a polish" , "A dull sky"
3.
Being or made softer or less loud or clear.  Synonyms: muffled, muted, softened.  "Muffled drums" , "The muffled noises of the street" , "Muted trumpets"
4.
So lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness.  Synonyms: boring, deadening, ho-hum, irksome, slow, tedious, tiresome, wearisome.  "The deadening effect of some routine tasks" , "A dull play" , "His competent but dull performance" , "A ho-hum speaker who couldn't capture their attention" , "What an irksome task the writing of long letters is" , "Tedious days on the train" , "The tiresome chirping of a cricket" , "Other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome"
5.
(of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted.
6.
Not keenly felt.  "Dull pain"
7.
Slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity.  Synonyms: dense, dim, dumb, obtuse, slow.  "Never met anyone quite so dim" , "Although dull at classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly quick" , "Dumb officials make some really dumb decisions" , "He was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse" , "Worked with the slow students"
8.
(of business) not active or brisk.  Synonyms: slow, sluggish.  "A sluggish market"
9.
Not having a sharp edge or point.
10.
Blunted in responsiveness or sensibility.  "So exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"
11.
Not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft.  Synonym: thudding.  "Thudding bullets"
12.
Darkened with overcast.  Synonym: leaden.  "A dull sky" , "The sky was leaden and thick"
verb
(past & past part. duller; pres. part. dulling)
1.
Make dull in appearance.
2.
Become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness.
3.
Deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping.  Synonyms: damp, dampen, muffle, mute, tone down.
4.
Make numb or insensitive.  Synonyms: benumb, blunt, numb.
5.
Make dull or blunt.  Synonym: blunt.
6.
Become less interesting or attractive.  Synonym: pall.
7.
Make less lively or vigorous.



Related searches:
dull-purple
dull-white
dullard
dulled
dullness


WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University


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"Dull" Quotes from Famous Books



... dull, a scribal pen Dead legends wrote, half-known, and feared: In lettered lands to poet men Romance, who lives ...
— Heroic Romances of Ireland Volumes 1 and 2 Combined • A. H. Leahy
... fire was dying down from a flame to a dull red glow, and a rush of wind against the kitchen window was accompanied by the light pattering of ...
— The Treasure of Heaven - A Romance of Riches • Marie Corelli
... because the animal life is the lowest and rudest part of his being and that which he shares with inferior creatures, to call any individual man an animal is to imply that the animal nature has undue supremacy, and so is deep condemnation or utter insult. The brute is the animal viewed as dull to all finer feeling; the beast is looked upon as a being of appetites. To call a man a brute is to imply that he is unfeeling and cruel; to call him a beast is to indicate that he is vilely sensual. We speak ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald
... surely deem May light these hearts of ours on darksome days, When loneliness hath power, and no kind beam Lightens about our feet the perilous ways? For of Eternity This present hour is all we call our own, And Memory's edge is dull'd, even as it brings The sunny swathes of unforgotten springs, And sweeps them to our feet like grass ...
— Bog-Myrtle and Peat - Tales Chiefly Of Galloway Gathered From The Years 1889 To 1895 • S.R. Crockett
... Style receives its beauty from the thought it expresses; but with sham-thinkers the thoughts are supposed to be fine because of the style. Style is nothing but the mere silhouette of thought; and an obscure or bad style means a dull or confused brain. ...
— The Art of Literature • Arthur Schopenhauer


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