What does dull mean?
Definitions for dull
dʌldull
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word dull.
Princeton's WordNet
dulladjective
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"
dulladjective
emitting or reflecting very little light
"a dull glow"; "dull silver badly in need of a polish"; "a dull sky"
dull, muffled, muted, softenedadjective
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"
boring, deadening, dull, ho-hum, irksome, slow, tedious, tiresome, wearisomeadjective
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"
dulladjective
(of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted
"dull greens and blues"
dulladjective
not keenly felt
"a dull throbbing"; "dull pain"
dense, dim, dull, dumb, obtuse, slowadjective
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"
dull, slow, sluggishadjective
(of business) not active or brisk
"business is dull (or slow)"; "a sluggish market"
dulladjective
not having a sharp edge or point
"the knife was too dull to be of any use"
dulladjective
blunted in responsiveness or sensibility
"a dull gaze"; "so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather
dull, thuddingadjective
not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft
"the dull thud"; "thudding bullets"
dull, leadenverb
darkened with overcast
"a dark day"; "a dull sky"; "the sky was leaden and thick"
dullverb
make dull in appearance
"Age had dulled the surface"
dullverb
become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness
"the varnished table top dulled with time"
muffle, mute, dull, damp, dampen, tone downverb
deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping
numb, benumb, blunt, dullverb
make numb or insensitive
"The shock numbed her senses"
dull, bluntverb
make dull or blunt
"Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge"
pall, dullverb
become less interesting or attractive
dullverb
make less lively or vigorous
"Middle age dulled her appetite for travel"
Wiktionary
dullverb
To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.
Years of misuse have dulled the tools.
dullverb
To soften, moderate or blunt.
He drinks to dull the pain.
dullverb
To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.
A razor will dull with use.
dulladjective
Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.
All these knives are dull.
dulladjective
Boring; not exciting or interesting.
dulladjective
Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster.
Choose a dull finish to hide fingerprints.
dulladjective
Not bright or intelligent; stupid; slow of understanding.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
DULLadjective
Etymology: dwl, Welsh; dole, Saxon; dol, mad, Dutch.
Such is their evil hap to play upon dull spirited men. Richard Hooker.
He that hath learned no wit by nature, nor art, may complain of gross breeding, or comes of a very dull kindred. William Shakespeare.
Sometimes this perception, in some kind of bodies, is far more subtile than the sense; so that the sense is but a dull thing in comparison of it. Francis Bacon, Natural History.
Every man, even the dullest, is thinking more than the most eloquent can teach him how to utter. Dryden.
Meeting with time, Slack thing, said I,
Thy scythe is dull; whet it, for shame. George Herbert.Gynecia a great while stood still, with a kind of dull amazement looking stedfastly upon her. Philip Sidney.
O help thou my weak wit, and sharpen my dull tongue. Fairy Queen, b. i. stanz. 2.
Memory is so necessary to all conditions of life, that we are not to fear it should grow dull for want of exercise, if exercise would make it stronger. John Locke.
This people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. Math. xiii. 15.
Thenceforth the waters waxed dull and slow,
And all that drunk thereof did faint and feeble grow. F. Q.She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling. William Shakespeare, Two Gent. of Verona.I’ll not be made a soft and dull ey’d fool,
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
To Christian intercessors. William Shakespeare, Merch. of Venice.To Dullverb
Etymology: from the adjective.
Nothing hath more dulled the wits, or taken away the will of children from learning, than care in making of Latin. Roger Ascham.
Those drugs she has
Will stupify and dull the sense awhile. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline.This entrance of the battle did whet the courage of the Spaniards, though it dulled their swords. Francis Bacon.
Now forc’d to overflow with brackish tears,
The troublous noise did dull their dainty ears. Edmund Spenser.Prayers were short, as if darts thrown out with a sudden quickness, lest that vigilant and erect attention of mind, which in prayer is very necessary, should be wasted or dulled through continuance. Richard Hooker, b. v. s. 33.
In bodies, union strengtheneth and cherisheth any natural action; and, on the other side, weakeneth and dulleth any violent impression, and even so is it of minds. Francis Bacon, Essays.
The breath dulls the mirrour. Francis Bacon.
ChatGPT
dull
Dull generally refers to something that lacks brightness, vibrancy, sharpness or liveliness. It could be used to describe a surface, edge or point that is not sharp, a color or light that is not bright or intense, a sound that is not clear or resonant, a person or thing that is not engaging or interesting, or an activity that is boring or uneventful.
Webster Dictionary
Dull
slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish
Dull
slow in action; sluggish; unready; awkward
Dull
insensible; unfeeling
Dull
not keen in edge or point; lacking sharpness; blunt
Dull
not bright or clear to the eye; wanting in liveliness of color or luster; not vivid; obscure; dim; as, a dull fire or lamp; a dull red or yellow; a dull mirror
Dull
heavy; gross; cloggy; insensible; spiritless; lifeless; inert
Dull
furnishing little delight, spirit, or variety; uninteresting; tedious; cheerless; gloomy; melancholy; depressing; as, a dull story or sermon; a dull occupation or period; hence, cloudy; overcast; as, a dull day
Dullverb
to deprive of sharpness of edge or point
Dullverb
to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy, as the senses, the feelings, the perceptions, and the like
Dullverb
to render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish
Dullverb
to deprive of liveliness or activity; to render heavy; to make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden
Dullverb
to become dull or stupid
Wikidata
Dull
Dull is a village located in the county of Perth & Kinross in Scotland. Situated in the Highland part of the county, Dull consists of a single street of houses on the north side of the valley of the River Tay. The place-name may mean 'meadow' in Gaelic. However, Duncan Campbell relates a traditional tale in "The Lairds of Glenlyon" which connects the Gaelic word 'dul' with the withies on the hearse of St Adomnán snapping, thus deciding his burial-place and the founding of Dull. The parish church, unused since the 1970s, is on the site of an early Christian monastery founded by St Adomnán, Abbot of Iona. Several early Christian cross-slabs dating to the 7th or 8th century have been discovered in and around the parish graveyard. A slab carved with stylised warriors and horsemen in the Pictish style, uncovered during grave-digging in the 19th century, is displayed in the Museum of Scotland, and may have formed part of a wall-relief, or one side of a box-shrine. A massive font of rough workmanship, preserved by the church door, is also a probable relic from the early monastic site. The surrounding district was known as the Appin of Dull, the name 'Appin' deriving from Old Irish apdaine, 'abbacy', referring to the former monastic estate. Compare Appin in Argyll, the 'abbey lands' in that case being those of the major early Christian monastery of Lismore. Four undecorated crosses, of which three survive, one at Dull itself, and two in the nearby old church at Weem, once stood around the monastic precinct, defining an area of sanctuary.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Dull
dul, adj. slow of hearing, of learning, or of understanding: insensible: without life or spirit: slow of motion: drowsy: sleepy: sad: downcast: cheerless: not bright or clear: cloudy: dim, obscure: obtuse: blunt.—v.t. to make dull or stupid: to blunt: to damp: to cloud.—v.i. to become dull.—n. Dull′ard, a dull and stupid person: a dunce.—adjs. Dull′-brained (Shak.), of dull brain or intellect: stupid; Dull′-browed, of gloomy brow or look; Dull′-eyed (Shak.), having eyes dull or wanting expression; Dull′ish, somewhat dull: wearisome.—ns. Dull′ness, Dul′ness, the stale or quality of being dull.—adjs. Dull′-sight′ed; Dull′-wit′ted; Dull′y, somewhat dull.—adv. Dull′y. [A.S. dol—dwelan, to err; Dut. dol, Ger. toll, mad.]
Surnames Frequency by Census Records
DULL
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Dull is ranked #6961 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
The Dull surname appeared 4,818 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 would have the surname Dull.
93.3% or 4,495 total occurrences were White.
1.8% or 89 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
1.8% or 88 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
1.2% or 60 total occurrences were of two or more races.
1% or 48 total occurrences were Asian.
0.7% or 38 total occurrences were Black.
Matched Categories
British National Corpus
Adjectives Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'dull' in Adjectives Frequency: #649
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of dull in Chaldean Numerology is: 7
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of dull in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4
Examples of dull in a Sentence
The car was in excellent condition out of storage, all of the original bits were there, no missing parts, only the front end was banged in, so we had to hammer that out because it was simply too ugly. The rest of the paint was dull but intact and all we had to do was get rid of the oxidation, and it came out very decent. The only things that we had to replace ended up being brake lines and a few bits of wiring.
School days are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, with brutal violations of common sense and common decency.
The upbeat messages — it's nice to hear, but then when you're struggling, if you have a cutback at your job, there's always that bleed-over and that could dull the reception, the thing that garners the most attention, obviously, is the iPhone and some of the media products, but... it can be a little excessive after a while.
Men of genius are often dull and inert in society, as the blazing meteor when it descends to earth is only a stone.
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia:
How dull it is to be back to Tsarskoe Selo again. Our daily routine again - classes in the morning, our hospital, the Grand Palace and a walk in the afternoon, the sisters' hospital in the evening.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for dull
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- كليلArabic
- тупы́Belarusian
- матов, притъпявам се, притъпявам, скучен, смекчавам, тъпBulgarian
- insuls, fatCatalan, Valencian
- fádní, tupýCzech
- kedelig, mat, dum, sløvDanish
- blöd, fad, abstumpfen, langweilig, blöde, dumm, stumpf, mattGerman
- αμβλύνωGreek
- amortiguar, soso, mate, corto, alivianar, desafilar, romo, obtuso, mellar, redondear, limitado, aburrido, moderar, opaco, aliviarSpanish
- nõme, tuhmEstonian
- sumentaa, tylsistyttää, lievittää, sumea, ikävystyttävä, samea, tylstyä, tylsyttää, tylsä, tylstyttää, pitkäveteinen, pitkästyttävä, hidasjärkinen, tylsyä, tyhmentää, lieventää, himmeäFinnish
- keðiligurFaroese
- user, barbant, mat, obtus, émousser, émoussé, assourdir, modérer, engourdir, amortir, adoucir, idiot, ennuyeux, terne, sotFrench
- कुंठितHindi
- բութ, ձանձրալիArmenian
- membosankanIndonesian
- soporifero, opaco, ottuso, monotono, tardo, smussare, noioso, spuntato, tediosoItalian
- משעמםHebrew
- 鈍い, 退屈, つまらないJapanese
- 무딘Korean
- کولKurdish
- retusus, brutus, stultus, idiōta, fatuusLatin
- blāvs, nespodrs, truls, neassLatvian
- mātotoruMāori
- тапMacedonian
- တုံးBurmese
- bot, stomp, dom, mat, saaiDutch
- kjedelig, matt, sløve, sløv, dumNorwegian
- doo deení daNavajo, Navaho
- stępić, nudny, tępa, tępe, matowy, tępy, stępić sięPolish
- estúpido, idiota, cego, imbecil, fosco, entediante, fátuoPortuguese
- banalRomanian
- затуплять, тупить, затупляться, глу́пый, притуплять, ту́склый, ма́товый, притупить, тупо́й, затупить, ску́чный, иступить, затупитьсяRussian
- tup, тупSerbo-Croatian
- tupýSlovak
- top, dolgočásenSlovene
- oskarp, slö, dämpa, tråkig, trög, döva, mattSwedish
- mapurolTagalog
- mat, sıkıcı, körTurkish
- тупи́йUkrainian
- đần độnVietnamese
- diswijhîWalloon
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