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dull

Syllabification: (dull)
Pronunciation: /dəl/

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Definition of dull

adjective

  • 1lacking interest or excitement:your diet doesn’t have to be dull and boring
  • archaic (of a person) feeling bored and dispirited:she said she wouldn’t be dull and lonely
  • 2lacking brightness, vividness, or sheen:his face glowed in the dull lamplight his black hair looked dull
  • (of the weather) overcast; gloomy:next morning dawned dull
  • (of sound) not clear; muffled:a dull thud of hooves
  • (of pain) indistinctly felt; not acute:there was a dull pain in his lower jaw
  • (of an edge or blade) blunt:a lot more people are cut with dull knives than with sharp ones
  • 3(of a person) slow to understand; stupid:the voice of a teacher talking to a rather dull child
  • archaic (of a person’s senses) not perceiving things distinctly; insensitive.
  • (of activity) sluggish, slow-moving:gold closed lower in dull trading

verb

  • make or become dull or less intense: [with object]:time dulls the memory [no object]:Albert’s eyes dulled a little

Phrases

(as) dull as dishwater

extremely dull.

dull the edge of

cause to be less keenly felt; reduce the intensity or effectiveness of:she’d have to find something to dull the edges of the pain

Derivatives

dullish

adjective

dullness

(also dulness) noun

dully

adverb

Origin:

Old English dol 'stupid', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dol 'crazy' and German toll 'mad, fantastic, wonderful'

dull in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of dull in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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