English Explanatory Dictionary

dull

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.
  2. Boring; not exciting or interesting.
  3. Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.
  4. Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.
  5. Sluggish, listless.
  6. Bored, depressed, down.
  7. Cloudy, overcast.
  8. Insensible; unfeeling.
  9. Heavy; lifeless; inert.
  10. Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.
  11. Not clear, muffled. (of a noise or sound)
verb
  1. To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.
  2. To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.
  3. To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.
  4. To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
name
  1. A surname. of Scottish and German origin.
name
  1. A village in Perth and Kinross council area, Scotland.

Pronunciation

/dʌl/ en-us-dull.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-dull.wav /dʊl/

Word forms

dull duller dullest dul dulle dulls dulling dulled

Etymology

From Middle English dull, dul (also dyll, dill, dwal), from Old English dol (“dull, foolish, erring, heretical; foolish, silly; presumptuous”), from Proto-West Germanic *dol, from Proto-Germanic *dulaz, from earlier *dwulaz, a variant of *dwalaz (“stunned, mad, foolish, misled”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwel-, *dʰewel- (“to dim, dull, cloud, make obscure, swirl, whirl”). Cognate with Scots dull, doll (“slow to understand or hear, deaf, dull”), North Frisian dol (“rash, unthinking, giddy, flippant”), Dutch dol (“crazy, mad, insane”), Low German dul, dol (“mad, silly, stupid, fatuous”), German toll (“crazy, mad, wild, fantastic”), Danish dval (“foolish, absurd”), Icelandic dulur (“secretive, silent”), West-Flemish dul (angry, furious).

Synonyms

blunt banal basic beat blah bland boring cold colourless corny drab stuffy dreich drowsy dull dull as dishwater flat heavy going ho-hum humdrum insipid lackluster lame languid lifeless longsome monotonous mundane no fun at parties plain plodding prosaic prosy pedantic pedestrian static straightforward snoozeworthy soporific tedious uncool wan weaksauce wooden uninteresting stodgy vapid vanilla matte dim dingy faint leaden muddy sad sober uncolorful unholiday addlebrained addlepated

Antonyms

sharp bright astute brainy brilliant clever educated genius gifted ingenious intellectual intelligent keen knowledgeable piquant quick quick on the uptake quick-witted rational sagacious savvy scholared smart talented whip-smart wise

Related words

bedole Dollard

Derived words

all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy dullard dull as dishwater dull as ditchwater dullen dullery dull fish dullhead dull-headed dullish dull-minded dullness dullsome dullsville dullwit dull-witted dully fordull never a dull moment semidull too much bed makes a dull head undull undullable undulled
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