Dictionary entry details
• DULL (adjective)
Meaning:
Lacking in liveliness or animation
Context examples:
he was so dull at parties / 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
Similar:
lackluster; lacklustre; lusterless; lustreless (lacking brilliance or vitality)
humdrum; monotonous (tediously repetitious or lacking in variety)
heavy; leaden (lacking lightness or liveliness)
drab; dreary (lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise)
bovine (dull and slow-moving and stolid; like an ox)
arid; desiccate; desiccated (lacking vitality or spirit; lifeless)
Also:
colorless; colourless (lacking in variety and interest)
unanimated (not animated or enlivened; dull)
spiritless (lacking ardor or vigor or energy)
Attribute:
dullness (the quality of lacking interestingness)
Antonym:
lively (full of life and energy)
Meaning:
Emitting or reflecting very little light
Context examples:
a dull glow / dull silver badly in need of a polish / a dull sky
Similar:
flat; mat; matt; matte; matted (not reflecting light; not glossy)
lackluster; lacklustre; lusterless; lustreless (lacking luster or shine)
soft; subdued (not brilliant or glaring)
Also:
unpolished (not carefully reworked or perfected or made smooth by polishing)
Attribute:
brightness; brightness level; light; luminance; luminosity; luminousness (the quality of being luminous; emitting or reflecting light)
Antonym:
bright (emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts)
Meaning:
Being or made softer or less loud or clear
Synonyms:
muffled; muted; softened; dull
Context examples:
the dull boom of distant breaking waves / muffled drums / the muffled noises of the street / muted trumpets
Similar:
soft ((of sound) relatively low in volume)
Meaning:
So lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
Synonyms:
boring; deadening; wearisome; ho-hum; irksome; tiresome; tedious; dull; slow
Context examples:
a boring evening with uninteresting people / 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
Similar:
uninteresting (arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement)
Meaning:
(of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted
Context example:
dull greens and blues
Similar:
unsaturated ((of color) not chromatically pure; diluted)
Meaning:
Not keenly felt
Context examples:
a dull throbbing / dull pain
Similar:
deadened (made or become less intense)
Antonym:
sharp (keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point)
Meaning:
Slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
Synonyms:
dumb; slow; obtuse; dim; dense; dull
Context examples:
so dense he never understands anything I say to him / 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
Similar:
stupid (lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity)
Meaning:
(of business) not active or brisk
Synonyms:
sluggish; slow; dull
Context examples:
business is dull (or slow) / a sluggish market
Similar:
inactive (lacking activity; lying idle or unused)
Domain category:
business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)
Meaning:
Not having a sharp edge or point
Context example:
the knife was too dull to be of any use
Similar:
unsharpened (not sharpened)
edgeless (lacking a cutting edge)
blunted; dulled (made dull or blunt)
blunt (used of a knife or other blade; not sharp)
Antonym:
sharp (having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing)
Meaning:
Blunted in responsiveness or sensibility
Context examples:
a dull gaze / so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her
Similar:
insensitive (deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive)
Meaning:
Not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft
Synonyms:
thudding; dull
Context examples:
the dull thud / thudding bullets
Similar:
nonresonant; unreverberant (not reverberant; lacking a tendency to reverberate)
Meaning:
Darkened with overcast
Synonyms:
leaden; gray; grey; dull
Context examples:
a dark day / a dull sky / a grey rainy afternoon / grey clouds / the sky was leaden and thick
Similar:
cloudy (full of or covered with clouds)
• DULL (verb)
Meaning:
Make dull in appearance
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Context example:
Age had dulled the surface
Hypernyms (to "dull" is one way to...):
alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Context example:
the varnished table top dulled with time
Hypernyms (to "dull" is one way to...):
change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Meaning:
Deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping
Classified under:
Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling
Synonyms:
tone down; mute; damp; muffle; dull; dampen
Hypernyms (to "dull" is one way to...):
soften (make (images or sounds) soft or softer)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Meaning:
Make numb or insensitive
Classified under:
Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling
Synonyms:
benumb; numb; blunt; dull
Context example:
The shock numbed her senses
Hypernyms (to "dull" is one way to...):
desensitise; desensitize (cause not to be sensitive)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Meaning:
Make dull or blunt
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
blunt; dull
Context example:
Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge
Hypernyms (to "dull" is one way to...):
alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Antonym:
sharpen (make sharp or sharper)
Meaning:
Become less interesting or attractive
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
pall; dull
Hypernyms (to "dull" is one way to...):
change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Meaning:
Make less lively or vigorous
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Context example:
Middle age dulled her appetite for travel
Hypernyms (to "dull" is one way to...):
weaken (become weaker)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dull"):
cloud (make milky or dull)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
