English Dictionary

DULL

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dull mean? 

DULL (adjective)
  The adjective DULL has 12 senses:

1. lacking in liveliness or animationplay

2. emitting or reflecting very little lightplay

3. being or made softer or less loud or clearplay

4. so lacking in interest as to cause mental wearinessplay

5. (of color) very low in saturation; highly dilutedplay

6. not keenly feltplay

7. slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuityplay

8. (of business) not active or briskplay

9. not having a sharp edge or pointplay

10. blunted in responsiveness or sensibilityplay

11. not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively softplay

12. darkened with overcastplay

  Familiarity information: DULL used as an adjective is familiar.


DULL (verb)
  The verb DULL has 7 senses:

1. make dull in appearanceplay

2. become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightnessplay

3. deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrappingplay

4. make numb or insensitiveplay

5. make dull or bluntplay

6. become less interesting or attractiveplay

7. make less lively or vigorousplay

  Familiarity information: DULL used as a verb is common.


 Dictionary entry details 


DULL (adjective)

 Declension: comparative and superlative 
Comparative: duller  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Superlative: dullest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


Sense 1

Meaning:

Lacking in liveliness or animation

Context example:

fell back into one of her dull moods

Similar:

drab; dreary (lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise)

lackluster; lacklustre; lusterless; lustreless (lacking brilliance or vitality)

humdrum; monotonous (tediously repetitious or lacking in variety)

heavy; leaden (lacking lightness or liveliness)

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)

Derivation:

dullness (the quality of lacking interestingness)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Emitting or reflecting very little light

Context example:

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)

Derivation:

dullness (a lack of visual brightness)


Sense 3

Meaning:

Being or made softer or less loud or clear

Synonyms:

dull; muffled; muted; softened

Context example:

muted trumpets

Similar:

soft ((of sound) relatively low in volume)


Sense 4

Meaning:

So lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness

Synonyms:

boring; deadening; dull; ho-hum; irksome; slow; tedious; tiresome; wearisome

Context example:

other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome

Similar:

uninteresting (arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement)

Derivation:

dullness (the quality of lacking interestingness)


Sense 5

Meaning:

(of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted

Context example:

dull greens and blues

Similar:

unsaturated ((of color) not chromatically pure; diluted)

Derivation:

dullness (a lack of visual brightness)


Sense 6

Meaning:

Not keenly felt

Context example:

dull pain

Similar:

deadened (made or become less intense)

Antonym:

sharp (keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point)

Derivation:

dullness (lack of sensibility)


Sense 7

Meaning:

Slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity

Synonyms:

dense; dim; dull; dumb; obtuse; slow

Context example:

worked with the slow students

Similar:

stupid (lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity)

Derivation:

dullness (the quality of being slow to understand)


Sense 8

Meaning:

(of business) not active or brisk

Synonyms:

dull; slow; sluggish

Context example:

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)


Sense 9

Meaning:

Not having a sharp edge or point

Context example:

the knife was too dull to be of any use

Similar:

blunt (used of a knife or other blade; not sharp)

unsharpened (not sharpened)

blunted; dulled (made dull or blunt)

edgeless (lacking a cutting edge)

Antonym:

sharp (having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing)

Derivation:

dullness (without sharpness or clearness of edge or point)


Sense 10

Meaning:

Blunted in responsiveness or sensibility

Context example:

so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her

Similar:

insensitive (deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive)

Derivation:

dullness (lack of sensibility)


Sense 11

Meaning:

Not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft

Synonyms:

dull; thudding

Context example:

thudding bullets

Similar:

nonresonant; unreverberant (not reverberant; lacking a tendency to reverberate)


Sense 12

Meaning:

Darkened with overcast

Synonyms:

dull; leaden

Context example:

the sky was leaden and thick

Similar:

cloudy (full of or covered with clouds)

Derivation:

dullness (a lack of visual brightness)


DULL (verb)

 Conjugation: 
Present simple: I / you / we / they dull  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation ... he / she / it dulls  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past simple: dulled  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past participle: dulled  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
-ing form: dulling  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


Sense 1

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


Sense 2

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


Sense 3

Meaning:

Deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

damp; dampen; dull; muffle; mute; tone down

Hypernyms (to "dull" is one way to...):

soften (make (images or sounds) soft or softer)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something


Sense 4

Meaning:

Make numb or insensitive

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

benumb; blunt; dull; numb

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


Sense 5

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)


Sense 6

Meaning:

Become less interesting or attractive

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

dull; pall

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

Derivation:

dullard (a person who evokes boredom)


Sense 7

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


 Context examples 


"Oh, do be more plain to me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The sea had turned a dull leaden grey and grown rougher, and was now tossing foaming whitecaps to the sky.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

At length she turned into a dull, dark street, where the noise and crowd were lost; and I said, “We may speak to her now”; and, mending our pace, we went after her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was a strange following his dull eyes saw.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

In France the young girls have a dull time of it till they are married, when 'Vive la liberte!' becomes their motto.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I am dull indeed not to have understood its possibilities.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Save the dull piping of insects and the sough of the leaves, there was silence everywhere—the sweet restful silence of nature.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was reported by those who encountered them in their Sunday walks, that they said nothing, looked singularly dull and would hail with obvious relief the appearance of a friend.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

If you're a woman, you might feel a dull pain during your period.

(Pelvic Pain, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
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"A thin cat and a fat woman are the shame of a household." (Corsican proverb)



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