dull
Americanadjective
-
duller,
comparative
-
dullest
superlative
-
not sharp; blunt.
a dull knife.
-
causing boredom; tedious; uninteresting.
a dull sermon.
- Antonyms:
- interesting
-
not lively or spirited; listless.
-
not bright, intense, or clear; dim.
a dull day; a dull sound.
-
having very little depth of color; lacking in richness or intensity of color.
-
slow in motion or action; not brisk; sluggish.
a dull day in the stock market.
-
mentally slow; lacking brightness of mind; somewhat stupid; obtuse.
- Synonyms:
- stolid, unintelligent, unimaginative
- Antonyms:
- bright
-
lacking keenness of perception in the senses or feelings; insensible; unfeeling.
-
not intense or acute.
a dull pain.
verb (used with or without object)
-
dulls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dulled,
past participle, past
-
dulling
present participle
adjective
-
slow to think or understand; stupid
-
lacking in interest
-
lacking in perception or the ability to respond; insensitive
-
lacking sharpness; blunt
-
not acute, intense, or piercing
-
(of weather) not bright or clear; cloudy
-
not active, busy, or brisk
-
lacking in spirit or animation; listless
-
(of colour) lacking brilliance or brightness; sombre
-
not loud or clear; muffled
-
med (of sound elicited by percussion, esp of the chest) not resonant
verb
Synonym Usage
Dull, blunt refer to the edge or point of an instrument, tool, or the like. Dull implies a lack or a loss of keenness or sharpness: a dull razor or saw. Blunt may mean the same or may refer to an edge or point not intended to be keen or sharp: a blunt or stub pen; a blunt foil. Dull, blunt, slow, stupid are applied to mental qualities. Dull implies obtuseness, lack of imagination: a dull child. Blunt implies loss of original keenness of intelligence through disease, sad experience, or the like: His critical faculties were blunt. Slow applies to a sluggish intellect: a slow mind. Stupid implies slowness of mental processes, but also lack of intelligence, wisdom, prudence, etc.: a stupid person.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dullsimple
-
dullssimple
-
have dulledperfect
-
has dulledperfect
-
am dullingprogressive
-
are dullingprogressive
-
is dullingprogressive
-
have been dullingperfect progressive
-
has been dullingperfect progressive
Past
-
dulledsimple
-
had dulledperfect
-
was dullingprogressive
-
were dullingprogressive
-
had been dullingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dull
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English; akin to Old English dol “foolish, stupid”; cognate with German toll
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing dull
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 1
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And while Grande later insisted the break was pre-planned and not “reactive or impulsive,” there’s no doubt the announcement was timed to dull the cacophony of both the jeers and cheers.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
Besides the main storyline and a dull, time-padding smuggling operation to uncover, there’s little to do for the rest of the Broken Lizard team: Paul Soter, Eric Stolhanske and Steve Emme.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Anyone taking a cursory glance at Monday’s market may conclude it was a dull day.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
I don’t find it dull at all—it’s virtuosic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
The cover was dull and worn now, but Danny traced his finger where he’d seen the golden letters come alive.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
In addition to changes in appetite, users of the drugs have reported duller senses of taste, less pleasure from eating and related side effects around flavor—phenomena characterized by some as “Ozempic tongue.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
That show is growing duller, and more lethargic and repetitive, by the day, like watching reruns of a canceled sitcom.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
In fact autumn was actually slightly duller than average and December has seen around average sunshine so far.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2025
There is apparently no way to make these things run any faster, but Glaser, who returned often to the stage, at least gave one the impression, between the duller stretches, that it was clipping along.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2025
If all went well, one or two might glow with the desired translucent green; others would be duller or less clear.
From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
For most of its long life, public nuisance was among the dullest legal actions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
“When you are a scientist, and you are trying to prove or disprove a notion, you work at the bench doing the dullest, most routine things over and over and over again,” Baltimore once explained.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025
Pandemic-era remote learning is well over, but for middle and high school students, school can still seem like an endless Zoom in the dullest sense of the word.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2023
Sunday was one of the dullest games I have watched this year but there was still a fantastic atmosphere.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2023
History of Magic was the dullest subject on their schedule.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
The mouths of journalists were agape, but time dulls horrific reality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
But the passage of time naturally dulls the horror for people farther away.
From Slate ● Jan. 14, 2026
In theory, each ingredient plays a role: one dries secretions, another loosens phlegm, a third dulls the cough reflex.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025
Because when repetition dulls our shock of them, how long before we are no longer shocked by real images of real arrests?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2025
Time slows, the noise of the restaurant dulls.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Yet performance has not dulled the appetite for change.
From BBC ● May 5, 2026
The law’s shield is shattered, and its sword is dulled.
From Slate ● May 1, 2026
You can tell she has written jokes, and maybe in print they would make you laugh—my guess is, they would—but her thin timbre and dulled rhythms don’t serve the material well at all.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Five years after a Times investigation dulled the shine of the glitzy Hollywood affair, the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, airing Sunday, will cap off a multi-day series of events and tributes now dubbed “Golden Week.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2026
The seats were soggy; his leather briefcase had dulled and darkened; there was a pool in each of the four footwells of the floor.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Paradoxically, it is the unwavering commitment to a narrow range of recognizable figures, dulling in its totality, that turned his signature style into a full-blown brand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
The higher costs have prompted chocolate makers to raise their prices, dulling consumers' appetite for the sweets.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2025
She said the government was not just waiting for the dulling to take place, and had invested £5m in interim, shorter-term road safety issues on the A9.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2025
Insect repellents are not meant to kill insects, but work by dulling their senses to prevent them from finding humans, according to the National Pesticide Information Center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2024
The fire was dulling, focusing into an ever-smaller point.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
