dull

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Related to dull: dull pain

dull

(dŭl)

adj. dull·er, dull·est

a. Arousing little interest; lacking liveliness; boring: a dull movie.

b. Not brisk or rapid; sluggish: Business has been dull.

2. Not having a sharp edge or point; blunt: a dull knife.

a. Not intensely or keenly felt: a dull ache.

b. Not bright, vivid, or shiny: a dull brown; a glaze with a dull finish.

c. Cloudy or overcast: a dull sky.

d. Not clear or resonant: a dull thud.

4. Intellectually weak or obtuse; stupid.

5. Lacking responsiveness or alertness; insensitive: half-asleep and dull to the noises in the next room.

6. Dispirited; depressed: a dull mood.

tr. & intr.v. dulled, dull·ing, dulls

To make or become dull.

[Middle English dul; akin to Old English dol.]

dull′ish adj.

dull′ness, dul′ness n.

dul′ly adv.

Synonyms: dull, colorless, drab¹, humdrum, lackluster, pedestrian, stodgy, uninspired
These adjectives mean lacking in liveliness, charm, or surprise: a dull, uninteresting performance; a colorless and unimaginative person; a drab and boring job; a humdrum conversation; a lackluster life; a pedestrian movie plot; a stodgy dinner party; an uninspired lecture.

Antonym: lively

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dull

(dʌl)

adj

1. slow to think or understand; stupid

2. lacking in interest

3. lacking in perception or the ability to respond; insensitive

4. lacking sharpness; blunt

5. not acute, intense, or piercing

6. (Physical Geography) (of weather) not bright or clear; cloudy

7. not active, busy, or brisk

8. lacking in spirit or animation; listless

9. (Colours) (of colour) lacking brilliance or brightness; sombre

10. not loud or clear; muffled

11. (Medicine) med (of sound elicited by percussion, esp of the chest) not resonant

to make or become dull

[Old English dol; related to Old Norse dul conceit, Old High German tol foolish, Greek tholeros confused]

ˈdullish adj

ˈdullness, ˈdulness n

ˈdully adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dull

(dʌl)

adj. , dull•er, dull•est,
v. adj.

1. not sharp; blunt: a dull knife.

2. uninteresting: a dull sermon.

3. not lively or spirited; listless.

4. not bright, intense, or clear; dim: a dull day; a dull sound.

5. having very little depth of color.

6. sluggish: a dull day in the stock market.

7. mentally slow; obtuse.

8. insensible; unfeeling.

9. not intense or acute: a dull pain.

v.t., v.i.

10. to make or become dull.

[1200–50; Middle English; akin to Old English dol foolish, stupid; c. Old Saxon dol, Old High German tol]

dull′ish, adj.

dull′ness, dul′ness, n.

dul′ly, adv.

dull

– blunt

1. 'dull'

If you say that something is dull, you mean that it is not interesting.

I thought the book dull and unoriginal.

It will be so dull here without you.

2. 'blunt'

In British English, if a knife is no longer sharp, you do not say that it is 'dull'. You say that it is blunt.

Scrape off as much as possible with a blunt knife.

American English also uses dull for this meaning.

He had a cut on his face from shaving with a dull razor.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

dull

Past participle: dulled
Gerund: dulling

Imperative
dull
dull

Present
I dull
you dull
he/she/it dulls
we dull
you dull
they dull

Preterite
I dulled
you dulled
he/she/it dulled
we dulled
you dulled
they dulled

Present Continuous
I am dulling
you are dulling
he/she/it is dulling
we are dulling
you are dulling
they are dulling

Present Perfect
I have dulled
you have dulled
he/she/it has dulled
we have dulled
you have dulled
they have dulled

Past Continuous
I was dulling
you were dulling
he/she/it was dulling
we were dulling
you were dulling
they were dulling

Past Perfect
I had dulled
you had dulled
he/she/it had dulled
we had dulled
you had dulled
they had dulled

Future
I will dull
you will dull
he/she/it will dull
we will dull
you will dull
they will dull

Future Perfect
I will have dulled
you will have dulled
he/she/it will have dulled
we will have dulled
you will have dulled
they will have dulled

Future Continuous
I will be dulling
you will be dulling
he/she/it will be dulling
we will be dulling
you will be dulling
they will be dulling

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been dulling
you have been dulling
he/she/it has been dulling
we have been dulling
you have been dulling
they have been dulling

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been dulling
you will have been dulling
he/she/it will have been dulling
we will have been dulling
you will have been dulling
they will have been dulling

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been dulling
you had been dulling
he/she/it had been dulling
we had been dulling
you had been dulling
they had been dulling

Conditional
I would dull
you would dull
he/she/it would dull
we would dull
you would dull
they would dull

Past Conditional
I would have dulled
you would have dulled
he/she/it would have dulled
we would have dulled
you would have dulled
they would have dulled

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Verb	1.	dull - make dull in appearance; "Age had dulled the surface" alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue"
	2.	dull - become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness; "the varnished table top dulled with time" change - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night"
	3.	dull - deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping damp, mute, tone down, muffle, dampen soften - make (images or sounds) soft or softer
	4.	dull - make numb or insensitive; "The shock numbed her senses" benumb, numb, blunt desensitise, desensitize - cause not to be sensitive; "The war desensitized many soldiers"; "The photographic plate was desensitized"
	5.	dull - make dull or blunt; "Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge" blunt alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue" sharpen - make sharp or sharper; "sharpen the knives"
	6.	dull - become less interesting or attractive pall change - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night"
	7.	dull - make less lively or vigorous; "Middle age dulled her appetite for travel" weaken - become weaker; "The prisoner's resistance weakened after seven days" cloud - make milky or dull; "The chemical clouded the liquid to which it was added"
Adj.	1.	dull - 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" unanimated - not animated or enlivened; dull colorless, colourless - lacking in variety and interest; "a colorless and unimaginative person"; "a colorless description of the parade" spiritless - lacking ardor or vigor or energy; "a spiritless reply to criticism" lively - full of life and energy; "a lively discussion"; "lively and attractive parents"; "a lively party"
	2.	dull - emitting or reflecting very little light; "a dull glow"; "dull silver badly in need of a polish"; "a dull sky" unpolished - not carefully reworked or perfected or made smooth by polishing; "dull unpolished shoes" bright - emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts; "the sun was bright and hot"; "a bright sunlit room"
	3.	dull - being or made softer or less loud or clear; "the dull boom of distant breaking waves"; "muffled drums"; "the muffled noises of the street"; "muted trumpets" muffled, muted, softened soft - (of sound) relatively low in volume; "soft voices"; "soft music"
	4.	dull - so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness; "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" boring, deadening, ho-hum, irksome, tedious, tiresome, wearisome, slow uninteresting - arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement; "a very uninteresting account of her trip"
	5.	dull - (of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted; "dull greens and blues" unsaturated - (of color) not chromatically pure; diluted; "an unsaturated red"
	6.	dull - not keenly felt; "a dull throbbing"; "dull pain" sharp - keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point; "a sharp pain"; "sharp winds"
	7.	dull - slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity; "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" dumb, slow, obtuse, dense, dim stupid - lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
	8.	dull - (of business) not active or brisk; "business is dull (or slow)"; "a sluggish market" sluggish, slow business enterprise, commercial enterprise, business - the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects; "computers are now widely used in business" inactive - lacking activity; lying idle or unused; "an inactive mine"; "inactive accounts"; "inactive machinery"
	9.	dull - not having a sharp edge or point; "the knife was too dull to be of any use" sharp - having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing; "a sharp knife"; "a pencil with a sharp point"
	10.	dull - blunted in responsiveness or sensibility; "a dull gaze"; "so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather insensitive - deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive; "insensitive to the needs of the patients"
	11.	dull - not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft; "the dull thud"; "thudding bullets" thudding nonresonant, unreverberant - not reverberant; lacking a tendency to reverberate
	12.	dull - darkened with overcast; "a dark day"; "a dull sky"; "the sky was leaden and thick" leaden cloudy - full of or covered with clouds; "cloudy skies"

dull

adjective

1. boring, tedious, dreary, flat, dry, plain, commonplace, tiresome, monotonous, prosaic, run-of-the-mill, humdrum, unimaginative, dozy, uninteresting, mind-numbing, ho-hum (informal), vapid, as dry as dust They can both be rather dull.
boring interesting, exciting

2. lifeless, dead, heavy, slow, indifferent, sluggish, insensitive, apathetic, listless, unresponsive, passionless, insensible We all feel dull and sleepy between 1 and 3pm.
lifeless active, lively, full of beans (informal)

3. drab, faded, muted, subdued, feeble, murky, sombre, toned-down, subfusc The stamp was a dull blue colour.

4. cloudy, dim, gloomy, dismal, overcast, leaden, turbid It's always dull and raining.
cloudy bright

5. muted, faint, suppressed, subdued, stifled, muffled, indistinct The coffin was closed with a dull thud.

6. blunt, dulled, blunted, not keen, not sharp, edgeless, unsharpened using the dull edge of her knife
blunt sharp, pointed

verb

1. relieve, blunt, lessen, moderate, soften, alleviate, allay, mitigate, assuage, take the edge off, palliate They gave him morphine to dull the pain.

2. cloud over, darken, grow dim, become cloudy Her eyes dulled and she gazed blankly.

3. dampen, reduce, check, depress, moderate, discourage, stifle, lessen, smother, sadden, dishearten, dispirit, deject Her illness failed to dull her optimism.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

dull

adjective

1. Having only a limited ability to learn and understand:

backward, simple, simple-minded, slow, slow-witted.

Informal: soft.

Offensive: feeble-minded, half-witted, retarded, weak-minded.

2. Lacking responsiveness or alertness:

benumbed, insensible, insensitive, numb, stuporous, torpid, unresponsive, wooden.

3. Unwilling or unable to perceive:

blind, purblind, uncomprehending, unperceptive.

4. Lacking passion and emotion:

anesthetic, bloodless, insensate, insensible, insensitive.

5. In low spirits:

blue, dejected, depressed, desolate, dispirited, down, downcast, downhearted, dysphoric, gloomy, heavy-hearted, low, melancholic, melancholy, sad, spiritless, tristful, unhappy, wistful.

Idiom: down at the mouth.

6. Characterized by reduced economic activity:

down, off, slack, slow, sluggish, soft.

7. Not physically sharp or keen:

blunt.

8. Arousing no interest or curiosity:

boring, drear, dreary, dry, humdrum, irksome, monotonous, stuffy, tedious, tiresome, uninteresting, weariful, wearisome, weary.

9. Lacking liveliness, charm, or surprise:

arid, aseptic, colorless, drab, dry, earthbound, flat, flavorless, lackluster, lifeless, lusterless, matter-of-fact, pedestrian, prosaic, spiritless, sterile, stodgy, unimaginative, uninspired.

10. Lacking vividness in color:

dim, drab, flat, muddy, murky.

11. Lacking gloss and luster:

dim, flat, lackluster, lusterless, mat.

verb

1. To make or become less keen or responsive:

dim, hebetate, stupefy.

2. To render less sensitive:

benumb, blunt, deaden, desensitize, numb.

Idiom: take the edge off.

3. To make or become less sharp-edged:

blunt, turn.

Idiom: take the edge off.

4. To make dim or indistinct:

becloud, bedim, befog, blear, blur, cloud, dim, eclipse, fog, gloom, mist, obfuscate, obscure, overcast, overshadow, shadow.

Translations

بَليد، بَطيء الفَهْمغائِمغَيْرُ لامِعمُمِل، غَيْر مُشَوِّقمـُمِلّ

hloupýmdlýnezáživnýnudnýtlumený

kedeligmatmørksløvtrist

langweilig matt stumpf trist trübe

βλάκας θαμπός μουχρός πληκτικός

aburrido apagado lento torpe limitado

nõmetuhm

tylsähaaleahidasjärkinenpitkästyttäväpitkäveteinen

ennuyeux obtus sot stupide terne

bezbojandosadan

lassú észjárású

grár; myrkur, dökkurleiîinlegurseinn til

noioso opaco ottuso smussare sordo

くすんだ面白くない

단조로운칙칙한

apsiniaukęsbukaibukumasnuobodumasnuobodžiai

apmāciesblāvsdrūmsgarlaicīgsneinteresants

mat saai stomp bot dom

matt treg i oppfatningen tungnem dum kjedelig

nudny poszarzałynudnanudne

cego desinteressanteentedianteopaco

скучный темный тупой вялый глухой

dolgočasenpusttemačentop

matttråkigslö

น่าเบื่อมัว ทึม

sıkıcı soluk yavan bulutluilginç olmayan

buồn tẻxỉn màu

乏味的单调沉闷的暗的朦胧的迟钝的

dull

[dʌl]

A. ADJ (duller (compar) (dullest (superl)))

1. (= boring) [person, speech, book, evening, job] → aburrido, pesado; [place] → aburrido, soso; [style, food] → soso
deadly dull → terriblemente aburrido, aburridísimo
there's never a dull moment here in the office → aquí en la oficina no nos aburrimos nunca
as dull as ditchwater → terriblemente aburrido

2. (= not bright) [colour, metal, glow] → apagado; [eyes] → apagado, sin brillo; [hair, skin, complexion] → sin brillo; [weather] → nublado; [sky, day] → gris
his eyes were dull and lifeless → sus ojos estaban apagados y sin vida
dull, lifeless hair → pelo sin brillo, sin vida
it will be dull at first (Met) → al principio estará nublado

3. (= not sharp) [pain, feeling, sound] → sordo
it fell with a dull thud or thump → cayó con un golpe sordo

4. (= lethargic, withdrawn) [person, mood] → deprimido, desanimado

5. (= slow-witted) [person, mind] → torpe; [pupil] → lento
his senses or faculties are growing dull → está perdiendo facultades
to be dull of hearing → ser duro de oído

6. (= blunt) [blade, knife] → romo

7. (Comm) [trade, business, market] → flojo

B. VT [+ senses, blade] → embotar; [+ emotions] → enfriar; [+ pain] → aliviar; [+ sound] → amortiguar; [+ mind, memory] → entorpecer; [+ colour] → apagar; [+ mirror, metal] → deslustrar, quitar el brillo de; [+ sensitivity] → embrutecer; [+ grief] → atenuar
the explosion dulled her hearing → la explosión la dejó dura de oído

C. VI [light] → amortiguarse; [colour] → apagarse, perder intensidad; [metal] → deslustrarse, perder brillo; [memory] → entorpecerse; [senses] → embotarse
his eyes dulled → sus ojos perdieron brillo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dull

[ˈdʌl]

adj

(= boring) [person] → ennuyeux/euse; [film, book, lesson, place] → ennuyeux/euse
He's nice, but a bit dull → Il est sympathique, mais un peu ennuyeux.

(= sluggish) [person] → engourdi(e)

(= slow) → borné(e)

(= lacklustre) → morne, terne

[sound] → sourd(e)

[pain] → sourd(e)

[colour, light] → sans éclat

[weather, day] → gris(e), maussade

[blade] → émoussé(e)

vt (= make less acute) [+ pain, grief] → atténuer; [+ senses, mind] → engourdir

(= grow dull) [eyes] → s'assombrir

[pain] → s'atténuer

[hearing] → baisser

dull

adj (+er)

(= not bright or shiny) light → trüb; glow → schwach; colour → matt, trüb; eyes → matt, glanzlos; hair, skin, metal, paintwork → stumpf, matt; weather, day → trüb, grau; sky → bedeckt; the sea was a dull grey → das Meer war mattgrau; it will be dull at first (weather forecast) → es wird anfangs bewölkt

(= boring) → langweilig; deadly dull, as dull as ditchwater or dishwater → todlangweilig; there’s never a dull moment → man langweilt sich keinen Augenblick

(= vague, muffled) sound, thud, ache, sensation → dumpf; he fell to the ground with a dull thud → er schlug dumpf auf den Boden auf

(= listless) person, mood → träge; gaze, expression → lustlos; (St Ex, Comm) market → flau; trading → schleppend; I felt dull and sleepy → ich fühlte mich träge und müde

(= slow-witted) → langsam; the dullest boy in the class → der schwächste Schüler in der Klasse; his senses/intellectual powers are growing dull → seine Sinne/geistigen Kräfte lassen langsam nach

(form, = blunt) knife, blade → stumpf

(= lessen) pain → betäuben; grief → lindern; senses, mind, sensitivity → abstumpfen; vision, hearing → trüben, schwächen; impression → schwächen; pleasure → dämpfen; emotionally dulled → (emotional) abgestumpft

(= make less bright) light, colour → dämpfen; metal, paintwork → stumpf werden lassen

(= muffle) sound → dämpfen

(form, = blunt) knife, blade → stumpf machen

vi (light) → schwächer werden; (colour) → verblassen; (eyes) → sich trüben

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dull

[dʌl]

1. adj (-er (comp) (-est (superl)))

a. (boring, book, evening) → noioso/a; (person, style) → insulso/a
as dull as ditchwater → una vera pizza

b. (dim, colour, eyes) → spento/a; (metal) → opaco/a; (overcast, weather, day, sky) → cupo/a, scuro/a, fosco/a; (muffled, sound, pain, thud) → sordo/a (Comm) (trade, business) → stagnante; (lacking spirit, person, mood) → svogliato/a; (blade) → smussato/a

c. (sight, hearing) → debole; (slow-witted, person, mind) → ottuso/a; (pupil) → lento/a

2. vt (mind, senses) → ottundere, annebbiare; (blade) → smussare; (impression, memory) → offuscare; (pleasure, pain, grief) → attenuare, attutire; (sound, colour) → smozzare; (metal) → rendere opaco/a

dull

(dal) adjective

1. slow to learn or to understand. The clever children help the dull ones.

2. not bright or clear. a dull day.

3. not exciting or interesting. a very dull book.

ˈdully adverb

ˈdullness noun

dull

→ غَيْرُ لامِع, مـُمِلّ nezáživný, tlumený kedelig, trist langweilig, matt θαμπός, πληκτικός aburrido, apagado haalea, tylsä ennuyeux, terne bezbojan, dosadan monotono, opaco くすんだ, 面白くない 단조로운, 칙칙한 mat, saai matt nudny, poszarzały desinteressante, opaco скучный, темный matt, tråkig น่าเบื่อ, มัว ทึม sıkıcı, soluk buồn tẻ, xỉn màu 乏味的, 暗的

dull

a. aburrido-a; [pain] dolor sordo; [blade] mellado-a.

dull

adj (pain) sordo; (object) romo; vt (pain) calmar (dolor)

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

If my Readers have followed me with any attention up to this point, they will not be surprised to hear that life is somewhat dull in Flatland.

View in context

low ; by which they have happily succeeded in banishing all humour from the stage, and have made the theatre as dull as a drawing-room!

View in context

When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped.

View in context

Maggie Toole, on account of her dull eyes, broad mouth and left- handed style of footwork in the twostep, went to the dances with Anna McCarty and her "fellow." Anna and Maggie worked side by side in the factory, and were the greatest chums ever.

View in context

"It's not dull if one has work to do; besides, one's not dull by oneself," Levin replied abruptly.

View in context

'Miss Grey,' said she, one evening, a month before the all-important day, as I was perusing a long and extremely interesting letter of my sister's--which I had just glanced at in the morning to see that it contained no very bad news, and kept till now, unable before to find a quiet moment for reading it,--'Miss Grey, do put away that dull, stupid letter, and listen to me!

View in context

Before he had reached the embankments that were being thrown up, he saw, in the light of the dull autumn evening, mounted men coming toward him.

View in context

He opened the glass of the dull lamp, whose wick, burnt up and swollen like a drunkard's nose, came flying off in little carbuncles at the candle's touch, and scattering hot sparks about, rendered it matter of some difficulty to kindle the lazy taper; when a noise, as of a man snoring deeply some steps higher up, caused him to pause and listen.

View in context

While he was so dull, it was no wonder that Harriet should be dull likewise; and they were both insufferable.

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When under the influence of the latter feeling, his eye never failed to seek the visage of his dull and impenetrable kinsman.

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There was a dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love which had inflamed her, because it was not love which had held this cup of life to her lips.

View in context

I am a simple, dull fellow who writes down whatsoever first comes into his head--Your friend,