dull

 
Pronunciation: /dʌl/

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: when cutting hard rock the edge soon became dull
  • (of activity) sluggish or slow-moving: shares closed weaker after a day of dull trading
  • 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.

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 (or ditchwater)

British extremely dull.

dull the edge of

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

Derivatives

dullish

adjective

dullness

(also dulness) noun

dully

Pronunciation: /ˈdʌlˌli/
adverb

Origin:

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