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dull

• (a) 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
• (a) emitting or reflecting very little light
  • a dull glow
  • dull silver badly in need of a polish
  • a dull sky
• (s) 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,
• (s) 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,
• (s) (of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted
  • dull greens and blues
• (a) not keenly felt
  • a dull throbbing
  • dull pain
• (s) 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, dense, obtuse, dim,
• (s) (of business) not active or brisk
  • business is dull (or slow)
  • a sluggish market
  sluggish, slow,
• (a) not having a sharp edge or point
  • the knife was too dull to be of any use
• (s) blunted in responsiveness or sensibility
  • a dull gaze
  • "so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather
• (s) not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft
  • the dull thud
  • thudding bullets
  thudding,
• (s) darkened with overcast
  • a dark day
  • a dull sky
  • the sky was leaden and thick
  leaden,

Verbs

• (v) make dull in appearance
  • Age had dulled the surface
• (v) become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness
  • the varnished table top dulled with time
• (v) deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping damp, mute, tone down, muffle, dampen,
• (v) make numb or insensitive
  • The shock numbed her senses
  benumb, numb, blunt,
• (v) make dull or blunt
  • Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge
  blunt,
• (v) become less interesting or attractive pall,
• (v) make less lively or vigorous
  • Middle age dulled her appetite for travel

Synonyms

muffled muted softened damp mute tone down muffle dampen boring deadening ho-hum irksome tedious tiresome wearisome slow benumb numb blunt pall dumb dense obtuse dim sluggish thudding leaden

Antonyms

lively bright sharpen sharp

See also

colorless colourless spiritless unanimated unpolished

Words of close approximity