dull Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb make dull in appearance
    • Age had dulled the surface
  2. verb become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness
    • the varnished table top dulled with time
  3. verb deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping
    dampen; mute; muffle; damp; tone down.
  4. verb make numb or insensitive
    benumb; blunt; numb.
    • The shock numbed her senses
  5. verb make dull or blunt
    blunt.
    • Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge
  6. verb become less interesting or attractive
    pall.
  7. verb make less lively or vigorous
    • Middle age dulled her appetite for travel
  8. adjective lacking in liveliness or animation
    • 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
  9. adjective emitting or reflecting very little light
    • a dull glow
    • dull silver badly in need of a polish
    • a dull sky
  10. adjective satellite being or made softer or less loud or clear
    muted; softened; muffled.
    • the dull boom of distant breaking waves
    • muffled drums
    • the muffled noises of the street
    • muted trumpets
  11. adjective satellite so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    tedious; slow; ho-hum; boring; wearisome; deadening; tiresome; irksome.
    • 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"- Edmund Burke
    • tedious days on the train
    • the tiresome chirping of a cricket"- Mark Twain
    • other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome
  12. adjective satellite (of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted
    • dull greens and blues
  13. adjective not keenly felt
    • a dull throbbing
    • dull pain
  14. adjective satellite slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
    dim; slow; dense; dumb; obtuse.
    • 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"- Thackeray
    • dumb officials make some really dumb decisions
    • he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse
    • worked with the slow students
  15. adjective satellite (of business) not active or brisk
    slow; sluggish.
    • business is dull (or slow)
    • a sluggish market
  16. adjective not having a sharp edge or point
    • the knife was too dull to be of any use
  17. adjective satellite blunted in responsiveness or sensibility
    • a dull gaze
    • so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather
  18. adjective satellite not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft
    thudding.
    • the dull thud
    • thudding bullets
  19. adjective satellite darkened with overcast
    leaden.
    • a dark day
    • a dull sky
    • the sky was leaden and thick

WordNet

Dull adjective
Etymology
AS. dol foolish; akin to gedwelan to err, D. dol mad, dwalen to wander, err, G. toll mad, Goth. dwals foolish, stupid, cf. Gr. turbid, troubled, Skr. dhvr to cause to fall. Cf. Dolt, Dwale, Dwell, Fraud.
Wordforms
comparative Duller ; superlative Dullest
Definitions
  1. Slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish. "Dull at classical learning." Thackeray.
    She is not bred so dull but she can learn. Shak.
  2. Slow in action; sluggish; unready; awkward.
    This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. Matt. xiii. 15.
    O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue. Spenser.
  3. Insensible; unfeeling.
    Think me not So dull a devil to forget the loss Of such a matchless wife. Beau. & Fl.
  4. Not keen in edge or point; lacking sharpness; blunt. "Thy scythe is dull." Herbert.
  5. Not bright or clear to the eye; wanting in liveliness of color or luster; not vivid; obscure; dim; as, a dull fire or lamp; a dull red or yellow; a dull mirror.
  6. Heavy; gross; cloggy; insensible; spiritless; lifeless; inert. "The dull earth." Shak.
    As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain. Longfellow.
  7. Furnishing little delight, spirit, or variety; uninteresting; tedious; cheerless; gloomy; melancholy; depressing; as, a dull story or sermon; a dull occupation or period; hence, cloudy; overcast; as, a dull day.
    Along life's dullest, dreariest walk. Keble.
    Syn. -- Lifeless; inanimate; dead; stupid; doltish; heavy; sluggish; sleepy; drowsy; gross; cheerless; tedious; irksome; dismal; dreary; clouded; tarnished; obtuse. See Lifeless.
Dull transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Duller ; present participle & verbal noun Dulling
Definitions
  1. To deprive of sharpness of edge or point. "This . . . dulled their swords." Bacon.
    Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. Shak.
  2. To make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy, as the senses, the feelings, the perceptions, and the like.
    Those [drugs] she has Will stupefy and dull the sense a while. Shak.
    Use and custom have so dulled our eyes. Trench.
  3. To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish. "Dulls the mirror." Bacon.
  4. To deprive of liveliness or activity; to render heavy; to make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden.
    Attention of mind . . . wasted or dulled through continuance. Hooker.
Dull intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To become dull or stupid. Rom. of R.

Webster 1913