drab

¹ American  

[drab] / dræb /

adjective

drabber, drabbest

1. dull; cheerless; lacking in spirit, brightness, etc.

2. having the color drab.

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noun

1. dull gray; dull brownish or yellowish gray.

2. any of several fabrics of this color, especially of thick wool or cotton.

drab ² American  

[drab] / dræb /

noun

Archaic.

1. a dirty, untidy woman; slattern.

2. a prostitute.

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verb (used without object)

drabbed, drabbing

1. to associate with drabs.

drab ¹ British  

/ dræb /

adjective

1. dull; dingy; shabby

2. cheerless; dreary

   a drab evening

3. of the colour drab

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noun

1. a light olive-brown colour

2. a fabric of a dull grey or brown colour

drab ² British  

/ dræb /

noun

1. a slatternly woman

2. a whore

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verb

1. (intr) to consort with prostitutes

drab Idioms  

1. see dribs and drabs.

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Other Word Forms

• drabness
  noun
• drably
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of drab¹

1535–45; < Middle French drap < Late Latin drappus piece of cloth

Origin of drab²

First recorded in 1505–15; perhaps akin to Dutch drab “dregs, lees,” obsolete Dutch drablen “to run or tramp about”; cf. drabble, draff

Explanation

Dull, dreary, dingy, depressing: These adjectives capture the sense of drab, whether the word is used to describe a muted color, a miserable mood, or an oppressively boring existence. Have you ever heard of the color olive drab? It's the color the military clothes its soldiers in and is the original meaning of the word drab. A little over 100 years ago, people began using drab in the metaphorical sense to mean "dull" and "lacking brightness." If a website or an advertisement is drab, the page is boring and unattractive. If it is cold and rainy for a week, you'll get awfully tired of those drab days, and a great teacher can make even the drabbest book come to life.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

drab drabber drabbest drabbed drabbing

The milestone, made possible by billions in private and government funding, was on display in the middle of the Idaho desert, where a cluster of drab hangars might otherwise go unnoticed.

From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026

England remain in control of their destiny - but this was a drab encounter that brought them back down to earth with a bump.

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

That sentiment can often seem true in a market where studio executives favor sequels and drab intellectual property over originality and fresh takes.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

Emma Garman’s “The Kindness of Strangers” is set in London in 1953, a postwar era so drab that even the weather seems exhausted.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

I felt young and small and very much alone, and now, in spite of my pride, I found his handkerchief and blew my nose, throwing my drab appearance to the winds.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

Unfortunately, the visuals suffer from many scratches and dirt specks popping up on the screen, and the second film has too much soft focus and a much drabber color palette.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 30, 2022

Take away one of those elements, and the scene gets a little drabber.

From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2020

The difference is that Mr. Pritchett’s world is enlivened by his cheerful embrace of eccentricity, while Mr. Trevor’s London is drabber, sadder, a place of widows and widowers, blighted romances, unraveling relationships.

From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2016

Honestly, could the premise for a feature-length story of middle-aged malaise and inchoate yearning be any drabber?

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2015

If so Germany is the drabber, for the colour was a thing to make one's heart leap.

From Confessions of an Opera Singer by Howard, Kathleen

The warming trend comes only a couple of months after Southern Californians endured one of the drabbest and wettest winter in recent memory.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2023

To which Forest fan Pete Bancroft replied: "I'll take the drabbest 1-0 win you've ever seen."

From BBC ● May 8, 2023

A new study has found that botanists' research inexorably skews toward showy plants, whereas the drabbest, dullest and shortest are often left behind—even if they are endangered.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 30, 2021

Should he mention his belief that Beth was the drabbest diminutive of Elizabeth?

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 12, 2018

Twilight was falling, there was a slight drizzle of rain and I told myself that I had stumbled on the drabbest bit of all London.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, March 12, 1919 by Various

“That’s his way, child, to-day a tinker, to-morrow something else; and as for being drabbed, I don’t know what to say about it.” p.

From Lavengro The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest by Knapp, William

But, as a rule, the pirate ruffled and bullied and drabbed without let or hindrance, until it was time for him to go back to his ship once more.

From The Green Flag by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

The day I went through, the interminable, oblique, thin rain took the gold out of the wheat and the brown from the distant fields and bushes, and drabbed all the colours in the grass.

From Letters from America by Brooke, Rupert

Our forefathers occasionally drabbed baulor; some of our people may still do such a thing, but only from compulsion.”

From The Romany Rye by Borrow, George Henry

Our forefathers occasionally drabbed baulor, some of our people may still do such a thing, but only from compulsion.’

From The Romany Rye A Sequel to 'Lavengro' by Sampson, John

‘Why, you have had a banquet of pork, and after the banquet Mrs. Chikno sang a song about drabbing baulor, so I naturally thought you might have lately been engaged in such a thing.’

From The Romany Rye A Sequel to 'Lavengro' by Sampson, John

“Why, you have had a banquet of pork, and after the banquet, Mrs. Chikno sang a song about drabbing baulor, so I naturally thought you might have lately been engaged in such a thing.”

From The Romany Rye by Borrow, George Henry

Related Words

• bleak
• desolate
• dingy
• dismal
• dreary
• gray
• lackluster
• muddy
• run down
• shabby
• somber