dull
adj 1: 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" [ant: {lively}]
2: emitting or reflecting very little light; "a dull glow";
"dull silver badly in need of a polish"; "a dull sky"
[ant: {bright}]
3: 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" [syn: {muffled}, {muted},
{softened}]
4: 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" [syn: {boring}, {deadening}, {ho-hum}, {irksome},
{slow}, {tedious}, {tiresome}, {wearisome}]
5: (of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted; "dull
greens and blues"
6: not keenly felt; "a dull throbbing"; "dull pain" [ant: {sharp}]
7: 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"
[syn: {dense}, {dim}, {dumb}, {obtuse}, {slow}]
8: (of business) not active or brisk; "business is dull (or
slow)"; "a sluggish market" [syn: {slow}, {sluggish}]
9: not having a sharp edge or point; "the knife was too dull to
be of any use" [ant: {sharp}]
10: blunted in responsiveness or sensibility; "a dull gaze"; "so
exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa
Cather
11: not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or
against something relatively soft; "the dull thud";
"thudding bullets"; "thumping feet on the carpeted
stairs" [syn: {thudding}, {thumping}]
12: darkened with overcast; "a dark day"; "a dull sky"; "a gray
rainy afternoon"; "gray clouds"; "the sky was leaden and
thick" [syn: {gray}, {grey}, {leaden}]
v 1: make dull in appearance; "Age had dulled the surface"
2: become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or
brightness, as of a varnished surface
3: deaden (a sound or noise), esp. by wrapping [syn: {muffle},
{mute}, {damp}, {dampen}, {tone down}]
4: make numb or insensitive; "The shock numbed her senses"
[syn: {numb}, {benumb}, {blunt}]
5: make dull or blunt, as of sharp edges or knives' blades
[syn: {blunt}] [ant: {sharpen}]
6: become less interesting or attractive [syn: {pall}]
7: make less lively or vigorous; "Middle age dulled her
appetite for travel"