dull

D0419000 (dŭl)adj. dull·er, dull·est 1. a. Arousing little interest; lacking liveliness; boring: a dull movie.b. Not brisk or rapid; sluggish: Business has been dull.2. Not having a sharp edge or point; blunt: a dull knife.3. a. Not intensely or keenly felt: a dull ache.b. Not bright, vivid, or shiny: a dull brown; a glaze with a dull finish.c. Cloudy or overcast: a dull sky.d. Not clear or resonant: a dull thud.4. Intellectually weak or obtuse; stupid.5. Lacking responsiveness or alertness; insensitive: half-asleep and dull to the noises in the next room.6. Dispirited; depressed: a dull mood.tr. & intr.v. dulled, dull·ing, dulls To make or become dull.

[Middle English dul; akin to Old English dol.]

dull′ish adj.dull′ness, dul′ness n.dul′ly adv.Synonyms: dull, colorless, drab¹, humdrum, lackluster, pedestrian, stodgy, uninspired
These adjectives mean lacking in liveliness, charm, or surprise: a dull, uninteresting performance; a colorless and unimaginative person; a drab and boring job; a humdrum conversation; a lackluster life; a pedestrian movie plot; a stodgy dinner party; an uninspired lecture.Antonym: lively

dull

(dʌl) adj1. slow to think or understand; stupid2. lacking in interest3. lacking in perception or the ability to respond; insensitive4. lacking sharpness; blunt5. not acute, intense, or piercing6. (Physical Geography) (of weather) not bright or clear; cloudy7. not active, busy, or brisk8. lacking in spirit or animation; listless9. (Colours) (of colour) lacking brilliance or brightness; sombre10. not loud or clear; muffled11. (Medicine) med (of sound elicited by percussion, esp of the chest) not resonantvbto make or become dull[Old English dol; related to Old Norse dul conceit, Old High German tol foolish, Greek tholeros confused] ˈdullish adj ˈdullness, ˈdulness n ˈdully adv

dull

(dʌl)

adj. , dull•er, dull•est,
v. adj. 1. not sharp; blunt: a dull knife. 2. uninteresting: a dull sermon. 3. not lively or spirited; listless. 4. not bright, intense, or clear; dim: a dull day; a dull sound. 5. having very little depth of color. 6. sluggish: a dull day in the stock market. 7. mentally slow; obtuse. 8. insensible; unfeeling. 9. not intense or acute: a dull pain. v.t., v.i. 10. to make or become dull. [1200–50; Middle English; akin to Old English dol foolish, stupid; c. Old Saxon dol, Old High German tol] dull′ish, adj. dull′ness, dul′ness, n. dul′ly, adv.

dull

blunt">blunt1. 'dull'

If you say that something is dull, you mean that it is not interesting.

I thought the book dull and unoriginal.It will be so dull here without you.2. 'blunt'

In British English, if a knife is no longer sharp, you do not say that it is 'dull'. You say that it is blunt.

Scrape off as much as possible with a blunt knife.

American English also uses dull for this meaning.

He had a cut on his face from shaving with a dull razor.

dull

Past participle: dulled
Gerund: dulling

Imperative
dull
dull

Present
I dull
you dull
he/she/it dulls
we dull
you dull
they dull

Preterite
I dulled
you dulled
he/she/it dulled
we dulled
you dulled
they dulled

Present Continuous
I am dulling
you are dulling
he/she/it is dulling
we are dulling
you are dulling
they are dulling

Present Perfect
I have dulled
you have dulled
he/she/it has dulled
we have dulled
you have dulled
they have dulled

Past Continuous
I was dulling
you were dulling
he/she/it was dulling
we were dulling
you were dulling
they were dulling

Past Perfect
I had dulled
you had dulled
he/she/it had dulled
we had dulled
you had dulled
they had dulled

Future
I will dull
you will dull
he/she/it will dull
we will dull
you will dull
they will dull

Future Perfect
I will have dulled
you will have dulled
he/she/it will have dulled
we will have dulled
you will have dulled
they will have dulled

Future Continuous
I will be dulling
you will be dulling
he/she/it will be dulling
we will be dulling
you will be dulling
they will be dulling

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been dulling
you have been dulling
he/she/it has been dulling
we have been dulling
you have been dulling
they have been dulling

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been dulling
you will have been dulling
he/she/it will have been dulling
we will have been dulling
you will have been dulling
they will have been dulling

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been dulling
you had been dulling
he/she/it had been dulling
we had been dulling
you had been dulling
they had been dulling

Conditional
I would dull
you would dull
he/she/it would dull
we would dull
you would dull
they would dull

Past Conditional
I would have dulled
you would have dulled
he/she/it would have dulled
we would have dulled
you would have dulled
they would have dulled

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	dull - make dull in appearance; "Age had dulled the surface"alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue"
	2.	dull - become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness; "the varnished table top dulled with time"change - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night"
	3.	dull - deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrappingdamp, mute, tone down, muffle, dampensoften - make (images or sounds) soft or softer
	4.	dull - make numb or insensitive; "The shock numbed her senses"benumb, numb, bluntdesensitise, desensitize - cause not to be sensitive; "The war desensitized many soldiers"; "The photographic plate was desensitized"
	5.	dull - make dull or blunt; "Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge"bluntalter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue"sharpen - make sharp or sharper; "sharpen the knives"
	6.	dull - become less interesting or attractivepallchange - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night"
	7.	dull - make less lively or vigorous; "Middle age dulled her appetite for travel"weaken - become weaker; "The prisoner's resistance weakened after seven days"cloud - make milky or dull; "The chemical clouded the liquid to which it was added"
Adj.	1.	dull - 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"unanimated - not animated or enlivened; dullcolorless, colourless - lacking in variety and interest; "a colorless and unimaginative person"; "a colorless description of the parade"spiritless - lacking ardor or vigor or energy; "a spiritless reply to criticism"lively - full of life and energy; "a lively discussion"; "lively and attractive parents"; "a lively party"
	2.	dull - emitting or reflecting very little light; "a dull glow"; "dull silver badly in need of a polish"; "a dull sky"unpolished - not carefully reworked or perfected or made smooth by polishing; "dull unpolished shoes"bright - emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts; "the sun was bright and hot"; "a bright sunlit room"
	3.	dull - 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"muffled, muted, softenedsoft - (of sound) relatively low in volume; "soft voices"; "soft music"
	4.	dull - 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"boring, deadening, ho-hum, irksome, tedious, tiresome, wearisome, slowuninteresting - arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement; "a very uninteresting account of her trip"
	5.	dull - (of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted; "dull greens and blues"unsaturated - (of color) not chromatically pure; diluted; "an unsaturated red"
	6.	dull - not keenly felt; "a dull throbbing"; "dull pain"sharp - keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point; "a sharp pain"; "sharp winds"
	7.	dull - 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"dumb, slow, obtuse, dense, dimstupid - lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
	8.	dull - (of business) not active or brisk; "business is dull (or slow)"; "a sluggish market"sluggish, slowbusiness enterprise, commercial enterprise, business - the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects; "computers are now widely used in business"inactive - lacking activity; lying idle or unused; "an inactive mine"; "inactive accounts"; "inactive machinery"
	9.	dull - not having a sharp edge or point; "the knife was too dull to be of any use"sharp - having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing; "a sharp knife"; "a pencil with a sharp point"
	10.	dull - blunted in responsiveness or sensibility; "a dull gaze"; "so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Catherinsensitive - deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive; "insensitive to the needs of the patients"
	11.	dull - not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft; "the dull thud"; "thudding bullets"thuddingnonresonant, unreverberant - not reverberant; lacking a tendency to reverberate
	12.	dull - darkened with overcast; "a dark day"; "a dull sky"; "the sky was leaden and thick"leadencloudy - full of or covered with clouds; "cloudy skies"

dull

adjective1. boring, tedious, dreary, flat, dry, plain, commonplace, tiresome, monotonous, prosaic, run-of-the-mill, humdrum, unimaginative, dozy, uninteresting, mind-numbing, ho-hum (informal), vapid, as dry as dust They can both be rather dull.
boring interesting, exciting2. lifeless, dead, heavy, slow, indifferent, sluggish, insensitive, apathetic, listless, unresponsive, passionless, insensible We all feel dull and sleepy between 1 and 3pm.
lifeless active, lively, full of beans (informal)3. drab, faded, muted, subdued, feeble, murky, sombre, toned-down, subfusc The stamp was a dull blue colour.4. cloudy, dim, gloomy, dismal, overcast, leaden, turbid It's always dull and raining.
cloudy bright5. muted, faint, suppressed, subdued, stifled, muffled, indistinct The coffin was closed with a dull thud.
6. blunt, dulled, blunted, not keen, not sharp, edgeless, unsharpened using the dull edge of her knife
blunt sharp, pointedverb1. relieve, blunt, lessen, moderate, soften, alleviate, allay, mitigate, assuage, take the edge off, palliate They gave him morphine to dull the pain.2. cloud over, darken, grow dim, become cloudy Her eyes dulled and she gazed blankly.3. dampen, reduce, check, depress, moderate, discourage, stifle, lessen, smother, sadden, dishearten, dispirit, deject Her illness failed to dull her optimism.

dull

adjective1. Having only a limited ability to learn and understand:backward, simple, simple-minded, slow, slow-witted.Informal: soft.Offensive: feeble-minded, half-witted, retarded, weak-minded.2. Lacking responsiveness or alertness:benumbed, insensible, insensitive, numb, stuporous, torpid, unresponsive, wooden.3. Unwilling or unable to perceive:blind, purblind, uncomprehending, unperceptive.4. Lacking passion and emotion:anesthetic, bloodless, insensate, insensible, insensitive.5. In low spirits:blue, dejected, depressed, desolate, dispirited, down, downcast, downhearted, dysphoric, gloomy, heavy-hearted, low, melancholic, melancholy, sad, spiritless, tristful, unhappy, wistful.Idiom: down at the mouth.6. Characterized by reduced economic activity:down, off, slack, slow, sluggish, soft.7. Not physically sharp or keen:blunt.8. Arousing no interest or curiosity:boring, drear, dreary, dry, humdrum, irksome, monotonous, stuffy, tedious, tiresome, uninteresting, weariful, wearisome, weary.9. Lacking liveliness, charm, or surprise:arid, aseptic, colorless, drab, dry, earthbound, flat, flavorless, lackluster, lifeless, lusterless, matter-of-fact, pedestrian, prosaic, spiritless, sterile, stodgy, unimaginative, uninspired.10. Lacking vividness in color:dim, drab, flat, muddy, murky.11. Lacking gloss and luster:dim, flat, lackluster, lusterless, mat.verb1. To make or become less keen or responsive:dim, hebetate, stupefy.2. To render less sensitive:benumb, blunt, deaden, desensitize, numb.Idiom: take the edge off.3. To make or become less sharp-edged:blunt, turn.Idiom: take the edge off.4. To make dim or indistinct:becloud, bedim, befog, blear, blur, cloud, dim, eclipse, fog, gloom, mist, obfuscate, obscure, overcast, overshadow, shadow.

Translations

乏味的单调沉闷的暗的朦胧的迟钝的

dull

(dal) adjective1. slow to learn or to understand. The clever children help the dull ones.迟钝的2. not bright or clear. a dull day. 阴沉的，朦胧的 3. not exciting or interesting. a very dull book.单调沉闷的ˈdully adverb 迟钝地，单调地，乏味地 ˈdullness noun 迟钝，单调，乏味

dull

→ 乏味的zhCN, 暗的zhCN

dull

all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)

Working too much can be bad for one's health or can make one boring. Come out to the pub with us tonight! All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play isn't ideal, but I absolutely must finish this report tonight.See also: all, and, dull, jack, no, play, work

be as dull as dishwater

To be very boring or unexciting. This phrase is often used to describe a person. My date with Dave was not great—he is as dull as dishwater. I fell asleep during that movie because it was as dull as dishwater.See also: dishwater, dull

(as) dull as dishwater

Very boring or unexciting. This phrase is often used to describe a person. My date with Dave was not great—he is as dull as dishwater. I fell asleep during that movie because it was as dull as dishwater.See also: dishwater, dull

deadly dull

Very boring. It seems that Ernie can make any topic deadly dull—he's just doesn't have any personality.See also: deadly, dull

keep it down to a dull roar

To be quiet or stop making a lot of noise; to maintain a low level of noise. Often used as an imperative. Kids, when you work together, please keep it down to a dull roar.See also: down, dull, keep, roar

never a dull moment

There is always something happening or changing; things are always busy or chaotic. A: "Wow, it must get pretty hectic having all these young kids running around." B: "Yep, never a dull moment!" I love that there's never a dull moment in this city. I don't think I'd be able to tolerate the silence of the countryside.See also: dull, moment, never

(as) dull as ditchwater

Very boring or unexciting. This phrase is often used to describe a person. My date with Dave was not great—he is as dull as ditchwater. I fell asleep during that movie because it was as dull as ditchwater.See also: ditchwater, dull

dull the edge of (something)

To lessen some aspect of something, often so that it is less severe or effective. Likened to dulling the edge of a blade. Unfortunately, there is little we can do to dull the edge of such an emotional issue.See also: dull, edge, of

a dull roar

A low level of noise. Kids, when you work together, please keep it down to a dull roar.See also: dull, roar

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Prov. It is not healthy for someone to work all the time and never play. (Often used to exhort someone to stop working, or to justify why you have stopped working. You can substitute the name of the person you are addressing for Jack.) Don't come to the office this weekend. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I'd like to take a week's vacation next month. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.See also: all, and, boy, dull, jack, make, no, play, work

deadly dull

very dull. The lecture was deadly dull, and I went to sleep. Her story was really deadly dull. I am sorry I was awake for part of it.See also: deadly, dull

*dull as dishwater

and *dull as ditch water very uninteresting. (*Also: as ~.) I'm not surprised that he can't find a partner. He's as dull as dishwater. Mr. Black's speech was as dull as dishwater.See also: dishwater, dull

never a dull moment

[it's] always exciting around here. (Describes an exciting or hectic situation.) Every time I visit Jean, she has dozens of things planned for us to do: parties and theaters to attend, restaurants to try, scenic places to see. Never a dull moment. Alan: How was work today? Jane: First of all, my boss called me in to yell at me. Then I had to fire one of my subordinates. And then my desk chair broke when I sat down on it. Never a dull moment.See also: dull, moment, never

all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)

Hard work without time for recreation is not good for one's health, as in If Harry keeps up that grueling schedule, he's headed for a breakdown-all work and no play isn't healthy . A proverb included in James Howell's collection of 1659, this phrase remains so familiar that it is often shortened, as in the example. See also: all, and, dull, jack, no, play, work

dull as dishwater

Boring, tedious, as in That lecture was dull as dishwater. The original simile, dull as ditchwater, dating from the 1700s, alluded to the muddy water in roadside ditches. In the first half of the 1900s, perhaps through mispronunciation, it became dishwater, that is, the dingy, grayish water in which dirty dishes had soaked. See also: dishwater, dull

never a dull moment

Something is always changing or happening, as in First Lauren spits up, then she coughs, then she sneezes-never a dull moment with this baby! This expression was first recorded in 1889. See also: dull, moment, never

dull as ditchwater

dull as dishwater

If someone or something is as dull as ditchwater or as dull as dishwater, they are very boring. He's a dull writer and that's a fact. Dull as ditchwater. `Most of the politicians in Ontario are dull as dishwater,' he said. Note: The expression `dull as ditchwater' is over 200 years old, whereas `dull as dishwater' is a more recent variant. The reference is to the dull dirty colour of the water in ditches or in washing-up bowls. See also: ditchwater, dull

dull as dishwater (or ditchwater)

extremely dull.See also: dishwater, dull

dull the edge of

make less sensitive, interesting, or effective. The image here is of making a knife's edge blunt.See also: dull, edge, of

never a dull moment

used to express the idea of constant (and sometimes perhaps excessive) variety and excitement. informalSee also: dull, moment, never

(as) dull as ˈditchwater

(British English) (American English (as) dull as ˈdishwater) very boring: Best-seller or not, the book sounds as dull as ditchwater to me.See also: ditchwater, dull

(as) dull as dishwater

mod. very dull. Life can be as dull as dishwater. See also: dishwater, dull

dull as dishwater

verbSee as dull as dishwaterSee also: dishwater, dull

deadly (dull)

mod. very dull. The lecture was deadly dull, and I went to sleep. See also: deadly, dull

dull roar

n. a relatively quiet degree of noisiness. Try to keep it at a dull roar if you can. See also: dull, roar

dull as dishwater

Flat, boring. This expression began life in the eighteenth century as dull as ditchwater, alluding to the muddy color of the water in roadside gullies. “He’d be sharper than a serpent’s tooth, if he wasn’t as dull as ditchwater,” says Dickens’s Fanny Cleaver (Oliver Twist). This version survived on both sides of the Atlantic well into the twentieth century. Either through careless pronunciation or through similar analogy it occasionally became dishwater—water in which dishes had been washed and which consequently was dingy and grayish.See also: dishwater, dull

never a dull moment

Something exciting is always occurring. This term, usually stated ironically when something dangerous, stressful, or otherwise unpleasant is happening, became common in the Royal Navy in the 1930s and spread from there across the Atlantic and to civilian situations. See also: dull, moment, never

dull

dull

dull

dull

dull

dull

dull

dull

dull

dull

dull

all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)

be as dull as dishwater

(as) dull as dishwater

deadly dull

keep it down to a dull roar

never a dull moment

(as) dull as ditchwater

dull the edge of (something)

a dull roar

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

deadly dull

*dull as dishwater

never a dull moment

all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)

dull as dishwater

never a dull moment

dull as ditchwater

dull as dishwater

dull as dishwater (or ditchwater)

dull the edge of

never a dull moment

(as) dull as ˈditchwater

(as) dull as dishwater

dull as dishwater

deadly (dull)

dull roar

dull as dishwater

never a dull moment

dull

dull

dull

dull

matte

dull

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Patient discussion about dull

dull

Synonyms for dull

adj boring

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Antonyms

adj lifeless

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adj drab

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adj cloudy

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adj muted

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adj blunt

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verb relieve

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verb cloud over

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verb dampen

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Synonyms for dull

adj having only a limited ability to learn and understand

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adj lacking responsiveness or alertness

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adj unwilling or unable to perceive

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adj lacking passion and emotion

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