dull

/dəl/

/dəl/

Other forms: dulled; dullest; duller; dulls; dulling

To dull something means to take away its edge, its energy, or its excitement. "Watching that movie will dull your senses, until you fall asleep."

Let’s think of something interesting about dull. Hmm. It can be a verb or an adjective! So when you’re reading a dull or boring word description, for instance, it can dull or deaden your appetite for reading more word descriptions. That’s pretty fascinating, no? You can even use it for physical things, like a knife, which you can dull, that is, make it less sharp. You can even dull something visual, making it lacking in light, or use it describe pain — you know, the kind that is not sharp, just an ache. Exciting? No — dull.

Definitions of dull
  1. adjective
    so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    “a dull play”
    “his competent but dull performance”
    synonyms: boring, deadening, ho-hum, irksome, slow, tedious, tiresome, wearisome
    uninteresting
    arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement
  2. adjective
    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”
    Synonyms:
    unanimated
    not animated or enlivened; dull
    colorless, colourless
    lacking in variety and interest
    arid, desiccate, desiccated
    lacking vitality or spirit; lifeless
    bovine
    dull and slow-moving and stolid; like an ox
    drab, dreary
    lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise
    heavy, leaden
    lacking lightness or liveliness
    humdrum, monotonous
    tediously repetitious or lacking in variety
    lackluster, lacklustre, lusterless, lustreless
    lacking brilliance or vitality
    spiritless
    lacking ardor or vigor or energy
    see moresee less
    Antonyms:
    lively
    full of life and energy
    alert, watchful
    engaged in or accustomed to close observation
    alive, animated
    having life or vigor or spirit
    alive
    (often followed by `with') full of life and spirit
    bouncing, bouncy, peppy, spirited, zippy
    marked by lively action
    breezy
    fresh and animated
    bubbly
    full of or showing high spirits
    bubbling, effervescent, frothy, scintillating, sparkly
    marked by high spirits or excitement
    burbling, burbly, effusive, gushing
    uttered with unrestrained enthusiasm
    live
    abounding with life and energy
    warm
    characterized by liveliness or excitement or disagreement
    energetic
    possessing or exerting or displaying energy
    spirited
    displaying animation, vigor, or liveliness
    rested
    not tired; refreshed as by sleeping or relaxing
    show more antonyms...
  3. adjective
    blunted in responsiveness or sensibility
    “a dull gaze”
    “"so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather”
    Synonyms:
    insensitive
    deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive
  4. adjective
    slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
    “"although dull at classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly quick"- Thackeray”
    synonyms: dense, dim, dumb, obtuse, slow
    stupid
    lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
  5. adjective
    (of business) not active or brisk
    “business is dull (or slow)”
    synonyms: slow, sluggish
    inactive
    lacking activity; lying idle or unused
  6. verb
    become less interesting or attractive
    synonyms: pall
    see moresee less
    type of:
    change
    undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature
  7. verb
    make less lively or vigorous
    “Middle age dulled her appetite for travel”
    see moresee less
    types:
    cloud
    make milky or dull
    type of:
    weaken
    become weaker
  8. adjective
    emitting or reflecting very little light
    “a dull glow”
    “dull silver badly in need of a polish”
    “a dull sky”
    Synonyms:
    flat, mat, matt, matte, matted
    not reflecting light; not glossy
    lackluster, lacklustre, lusterless, lustreless
    lacking luster or shine
    soft, subdued
    not brilliant or glaring
    unpolished
    not carefully reworked or perfected or made smooth by polishing
    see moresee less
    Antonyms:
    bright
    emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts
    agleam, gleaming, nitid
    bright with a steady but subdued shining
    aglow, lambent, lucent, luminous
    softly bright or radiant
    aglitter, coruscant, fulgid, glinting, glistering, glittering, glittery, scintillant, scintillating, sparkly
    having brief brilliant points or flashes of light
    beadlike, beady, buttonlike, buttony
    small and round and shiny like a shiny bead or button
    beaming, beamy, effulgent, radiant, refulgent
    radiating or as if radiating light
    blazing, blinding, dazzling, fulgent, glaring, glary
    shining intensely
    bright as a new penny
    (metaphor) shining brightly
    brilliant
    full of light; shining intensely
    ardent
    glowing or shining like fire
    glimmery
    shining softly and intermittently
    glistening, glossy, lustrous, sheeny, shining, shiny
    reflecting light
    iridescent, nacreous, opalescent, opaline, pearlescent
    having a play of lustrous rainbow colors
    lurid
    shining with an unnatural red glow as of fire seen through smoke
    noctilucent
    shining or glowing by night
    satiny, silken, silklike, silky, sleek, slick
    having a smooth, gleaming surface reflecting light
    self-luminous
    having in itself the property of emitting light
    shimmery
    glistening tremulously
    silver, silvern, silvery
    having the white lustrous sheen of silver
    twinkling
    shining intermittently with a sparkling light
    show more antonyms...
  9. adjective
    darkened with overcast
    “a dull sky”
    synonyms: leaden
    cloudy
    full of or covered with clouds
  10. adjective
    (of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted
    “dull greens and blues”
    Synonyms:
    unsaturated
    (of color) not chromatically pure; diluted
  11. verb
    make dull in appearance
    “Age had dulled the surface”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    alter, change, modify
    cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
  12. verb
    become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness
    “the varnished table top dulled with time”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    change
    undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature
  13. adjective
    being or made softer or less loud or clear
    “the dull boom of distant breaking waves”
    synonyms: muffled, muted, softened
    soft
    (of sound) relatively low in volume
  14. adjective
    not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft
    “the dull thud”
    synonyms: thudding
    nonresonant, unreverberant
    not reverberant; lacking a tendency to reverberate
  15. verb
    deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping
    synonyms: damp, dampen, muffle, mute, tone down
    see moresee less
    type of:
    soften
    make (images or sounds) soft or softer
  16. adjective
    not having a sharp edge or point
    “the knife was too dull to be of any use”
    Synonyms:
    blunt
    used of a knife or other blade; not sharp
    blunted, dulled
    made dull or blunt
    edgeless
    lacking a cutting edge
    unsharpened
    not sharpened
    see moresee less
    Antonyms:
    sharp
    having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing
    carnassial
    (of a tooth) adapted for shearing flesh
    chisel-like
    resembling a chisel
    dagger-like
    resembling a dagger
    drill-like
    resembling a drill
    edged
    having a cutting edge or especially an edge or edges as specified; often used in combination
    fang-like
    resembling a fang
    file-like
    resembling a file
    incisive
    suitable for cutting or piercing
    keen
    having a sharp cutting edge or point
    knifelike
    cutting or able to cut as if with a knife
    metal-cutting
    hard and sharp enough to cut metal
    penetrating, penetrative
    tending to penetrate; having the power of entering or piercing
    razor-sharp
    as sharp as a razor
    sharpened
    made sharp or sharper
    sharp-toothed
    having sharp teeth
    pointed
    having a point
    show more antonyms...
  17. verb
    make dull or blunt
    “Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge”
    synonyms: blunt
    see moresee less
    Antonyms:
    sharpen
    make sharp or sharper
    type of:
    alter, change, modify
    cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
  18. adjective
    not keenly felt
    “a dull throbbing”
    “dull pain”
    Synonyms:
    deadened
    made or become less intense
    see moresee less
    Antonyms:
    sharp
    keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point
    acute, intense
    extremely sharp or intense
    cutting, keen, knifelike, lancinate, lancinating, piercing, stabbing
    painful as if caused by a sharp instrument
    fulgurating
    sharp and piercing
    salt
    (of speech) painful or bitter
    show more antonyms...
  19. verb
    make numb or insensitive
    synonyms: benumb, blunt, numb
    see moresee less
    type of:
    desensitise, desensitize
    cause not to be sensitive
Pronunciation
US

/dəl/
UK

/dəl/
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘dull'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
Word Family

Vocabulary lists containing dull

Multiple-Meaning Words, List 3

On the ACT Reading Test, you'll encounter questions that ask you to determine the meanings of common words in context. We've identified 170 high-frequency, multiple-meaning words of the sort that you'll see on the exam. As you practice this list, you'll have to rely on context clues in order to determine each word’s meaning in a particular sentence. Be careful! Several of a word's meanings might show up as answer choices — but only one answer will capture the meaning of the word in the context of the sentence.

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Academic Vocabulary, Unit 5

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