Dull
WordNet
adjective
(1) (of business) not active or brisk
"Business is dull (or slow)"
"A sluggish market"
(2) Emitting or reflecting very little light
"A dull glow"
"Dull silver badly in need of a polish"
"A dull sky"
(3) (of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted
"Dull greens and blues"
(4) 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"
(5) Darkened with overcast
"A dark day"
"A dull sky"
"A grey rainy afternoon"
"Grey clouds"
"The sky was leaden and thick"
(6) Not having a sharp edge or point
"The knife was too dull to be of any use"
(7) Not keenly felt
"A dull throbbing"
"Dull pain"
(8) 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) 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"
(10) 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"
(11) Not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft
"The dull thud"
"Thudding bullets"
(12) Blunted in responsiveness or sensibility
"A dull gaze"
"So exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather
verb
(13) Make less lively or vigorous
"Middle age dulled her appetite for travel"
(14) Become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness
"The varnished table top dulled with time"
(15) Become less interesting or attractive
(16) Make dull in appearance
"Age had dulled the surface"
(17) Make dull or blunt
"Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge"
(18) Make numb or insensitive
"The shock numbed her senses"
(19) Deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping
WiktionaryText
Adjective
- Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.
- All these knives are dull.
- Boring; not exciting or interesting.
- He sat through the dull lecture and barely stayed awake.
- When does having a dull personality ever get you a girlfriend? Even if you get one, how does being dull help you keep a relationship for over a year?
- Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster.
- Choose a dull finish to hide fingerprints.
- Not bright or intelligent; stupid; slow of understanding.