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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dull \Dull\, adjective [Compar. {Duller}; superl. {Dullest}.] [AS. dol foolish; akin to gedwelan to err, D. dol mad, dwalen to wander, err, G. toll mad, Goth. dwals foolish, stupid, cf. Gr. ? turbid, troubled, Skr. dhvr to cause to fall. Cf. {Dolt}, {Dwale}, {Dwell}, {Fraud}.]
1. Slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish. ''Dull at classical learning.'' --Thackeray.
She is not bred so dull but she can learn. --Shak.
2. Slow in action; sluggish; unready; awkward.
This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. --Matt. xiii. 15.
O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue. --Spenser.
3. Insensible; unfeeling.
Think me not So dull a devil to forget the loss Of such a matchless wife. -- Beau. & Fl.
4. Not keen in edge or point; lacking sharpness; blunt. ''Thy scythe is dull.'' --Herbert.
5. Not bright or clear to the eye; wanting in liveliness of color or luster; not vivid; obscure; dim; as, a dull fire or lamp; a dull red or yellow; a dull mirror.
6. Heavy; gross; cloggy; insensible; spiritless; lifeless; inert. ''The dull earth.'' --Shak.
As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain. -- Longfellow.
7. Furnishing little delight, spirit, or variety; uninteresting; tedious; cheerless; gloomy; melancholy; depressing; as, a dull story or sermon; a dull occupation or period; hence, cloudy; overcast; as, a dull day.
Along life's dullest, dreariest walk. -- Keble.
Syn: Lifeless; inanimate; dead; stupid; doltish; heavy; sluggish; sleepy; drowsy; gross; cheerless; tedious; irksome; dismal; dreary; clouded; tarnished; obtuse. See {Lifeless}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dull \Dull\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Duller}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Dulling}.]
1. To deprive of sharpness of edge or point. ''This . . . dulled their swords.'' --Bacon.
Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. --Shak.
2. To make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy, as the senses, the feelings, the perceptions, and the like.
Those [drugs] she has Will stupefy and dull the sense a while. --Shak.
Use and custom have so dulled our eyes. --Trench.
3. To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish. ''Dulls the mirror.'' --Bacon.
4. To deprive of liveliness or activity; to render heavy; to make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden.
Attention of mind . . . wasted or dulled through continuance. --Hooker.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dull \Dull\, verb (used without an object) To become dull or stupid. --Rom. of R.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
dull
adjective
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" [syn: {thudding}]
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}]
verb
1: make dull in appearance; "Age had dulled the surface"
2: become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness; "the varnished table top dulled with time"
3: deaden (a sound or noise), especially 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; "Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge" [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"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
664 Moby Thesaurus words for "dull": KO, Laodicean, Olympian, Quaker-colored, Spartan, abate, abeyant, abrupt, achromatic, achromatize, achromic, acier, affectless, allay, alleviate, aloof, anemic, anesthetic, anesthetize, anesthetized, apathetic, appease, arctic, arid, ascetic, ashen, ashy, asleep, assuage, asthenic, attemper, attenuate, austere, autistic, backward, bad, baffle, bald, banausic, bank the fire, bare, barren, bate, bated, becloud, bedaze, bedim, beef-witted, befog, benumb, benumbed, besot, betwixt and between, blah, blanch, blank, blase, bleach, blear, blear-witted, bled white, blind, bloodless, blue, bluff, blunt, blunt-edged, blunt-ended, blunt-pointed, blunt-witted, blunted, bluntish, blur, blurry, bored, boring, bovine, brainless, broken-record, bromidic, cadaverous, callous, candid, canescent, cast down, cataleptic, catatonic, characterless, chasten, chicken, chill, chilly, chloranemic, chloroform, cinereous, cinerous, cloddish, cloud, clouded, cloudy, cold, cold as charity, cold-blooded, coldcock, coldhearted, colorless, comatose, common, commonplace, constrain, control, cool, cowardly, cramp, crass, cripple, cushion, damp, damped, dampen, dampened, dapple, dapple-gray, dappled, dappled-gray, dark, darken, de-emphasize, dead, deaden, deaden the pain, deadened, deadly pale, deafen, deathly pale, debilitate, debilitated, decolor, decolorize, dejected, dense, depressed, depressing, desensitize, desensitized, detached, devitalize, dim, dim-witted, diminish, dimmed, dingy, direct, discolor, discolored, disedge, disinterested, dismal, dispassionate, dispirited, doltish, dope, dopey, dormant, dove-colored, dove-gray, down, downhearted, downplay, drab, draggy, drain, drain of color, draw the teeth, drearisome, dreary, drooping, droopy, drug, drugged, dry, dryasdust, dull of mind, dull-edged, dull-headed, dull-pated, dull-pointed, dull-witted, dulled, dullish, dumb, dun, duncical, dusty, earthbound, ease, ease matters, edgeless, effete, elephantine, emotionally dead, emotionless, empty, enervate, enervated, enfeeble, etherize, etiolate, etiolated, even-tempered, everlasting, eviscerate, exanimate, exhaust, exhausting, exsanguinated, exsanguine, exsanguineous, extenuate, fade, faded, fagging, faint, faintish, fair, fair to middling, faired, fairish, fallow, fat-witted, fatiguing, feeble, feebleminded, flabby, flaccid, flat, floppy, foment, foul, frank, freeze, frigid, frosted, frosty, frozen, fume, ghastly, give relief, glaucescent, glaucous, gloomy, gone, gray, gray-black, gray-brown, gray-colored, gray-drab, gray-green, gray-spotted, gray-toned, gray-white, grayed, grayish, grey, griseous, grizzle, grizzled, grizzly, groggy, gross-headed, gruel, gutless, haggard, half-witted, hard, hardened, harping, hazy, heartless, heavy, hebetate, hebetudinous, ho-hum, hollow, homely, homespun, hopeless, hueless, humdrum, hypochromic, icy, imbecile, immovable, impassible, impassive, imperceptive, impercipient, imperturbable, impotent, in a stupor, in abeyance, in suspense, inactive, inane, inanimate, indifferent, indistinct, inert, inexcitable, infecund, infertile, inirritable, insensate, insensible, insensitive, insentient, insipid, insouciant, insusceptible, inured, invariable, irksome, iron-gray, jaded, jejune, jog-trot, kayo, keep within bounds, knock out, knock senseless, knock stiff, knock unconscious, lackadaisical, lackluster, languid, languorous, latent, lay, lay low, lay out, lead-gray, leaden, lean, lenify, lessen, lethargic, lifeless, lighten, limber, limp, listless, literal, livid, logy, long-winded, low-spirited, lowering, lull, lumpish, lurid, lusterless, lustless, marrowless, mat, matter-of-fact, mealy, mediocre, medium, middling, mitigate, moderate, modest, modulate, mollify, monotone, monotonous, moribund, moronic, mouse-colored, mouse-gray, mousy, muddy, muffle, muffled, mull, mundane, murky, mute, muted, namby-pamby, narcotize, natural, neat, nerveless, neutral, nonchalant, nonemotional, nubilous, numb, numbed, numbing, numskulled, obdurate, objective, obscure, obtund, obtundent, obtuse, of a kind, of a sort, of sorts, opaque, open, ordinary, out of touch, overcast, overclouded, pad, pale, pale as death, pale-faced, palliate, pallid, palsy, paralyze, passable, passionless, passive, pasty, patient, pearl, pearl-gray, pearly, pedestrian, peroxide, phlegmatic, pithless, plain, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, play down, plodding, pluckless, poetryless, pointless, poky, ponderous, pooped, poultice, pour balm into, pour oil on, powerless, prolix, prosaic, prosing, prosy, pure, put to sleep, rattle, reduce, reduce the temperature, relieve, repress, resigned, respectable, restrain, retard, retund, rocky, rounded, rubbery, rustic, sad, sallow, salve, sap, sapless, sated, sedentary, self-absorbed, severe, shake, shake up, sickly, silver, silver-gray, silvered, silvery, simple, simple-speaking, simpleminded, sinewless, singsong, slack, slacken, slake, slate-colored, slaty, sleeping, sleepy, slow, slow down, slow-witted, sluggish, slumbering, smoke-gray, smoky, smoldering, smoothed, smother, smothered, so-so, sober, sober down, soft, soft-pedal, soften, soften up, softened, solemn, somber, somnolent, soothe, soporific, sordo, soulless, spare, spineless, spiritless, spunkless, stagnant, stagnating, staid, standing, stark, static, steady, steel-gray, steely, sterile, stiff, stifle, stifled, stodgy, stoic, stolid, stone-colored, stop, straightforward, strengthless, stuffy, stultified, stun, stupe, stupefied, stupefy, stupid, subdue, subdued, subfusc, sunless, superficial, supine, suppress, suspended, tallow-faced, tame, tarnish, tasteless, taupe, tedious, temper, thick, thick-brained, thick-headed, thick-pated, thick-skinned, thick-witted, thickskulled, tiresome, tiring, tolerable, tone down, toneless, torpid, treadmill, tune down, turn, unadorned, unaffected, unaffectionate, unaroused, unbrace, uncaring, uncolored, unconcerned, undermine, underplay, undisturbable, unedged, unembellished, unemotional, uneventful, unfanciful, unfeeling, unfelt, unflappable, unhardened, unideal, unidealistic, unimaginative, unimpassioned, unimpressionable, uninspired, uninterested, uninteresting, uninventive, unirritable, unlively, unloving, unman, unnerve, unnerved, unnervous, unoriginal, unpassionate, unperceptive, unpoetic, unpoetical, unpointed, unresponding, unresponsive, unromantic, unromanticized, unsharp, unsharpened, unstrengthen, unstring, unstrung, unsusceptible, unsympathetic, untouchable, unvarnished, unvarying, vapid, vegetable, vegetative, wan, wash out, washed-out, waxen, weak, weaken, weakly, weariful, wearisome, weary, whey-faced, white, whiten, wishy-washy, withdrawn, wooden, world-weary
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