dul´ness

dull «duhl», adjective, verb.

–adj.

1. not sharp or pointed; blunt: »

It is hard to cut with a dull knife.

2. not bright or clear; lacking in vividness, brightness, or intensity: »

a dull sound, a dull green, a dull day of rain.

SYNONYM(S): obscure, dim, indistinct, cloudy, gloomy, overcast.

3. slow to understand; stupid: »

The child had a dull mind.

SYNONYM(S): obtuse, doltish. See syn. under stupid. (Cf. ↑stupid)

4. having little feeling; insensitive: »

You never would hear it; your ears are so dull (Tennyson).

SYNONYM(S): insensible, unfeeling.

5. not felt sharply; vague; indistinct: »

The dull pain of a bruise.

6. not interesting; tiresome; boring: »

a dull joke. History no longer shall be a dull book (Emerson).

SYNONYM(S): uninteresting, colorless, tedious.

7. having little life, energy, or spirit; not active; sluggish: »

a dull fire. The fur coat business is usually dull in the summer. This is the dull season for automobiles.

SYNONYM(S): inert, stagnant, lifeless, slow, inactive.

8. not much in demand; not easily salable: »

Flour is dull at $7.30 (Thomas Jefferson).

9. lacking zest; depressed; sad: »

You are dull tonight; prithee be merry (Sir Richard Steele).

SYNONYM(S): listless, downcast.

–v.t.

to make dull: »

Chopping wood dulled the ax. Figurative. Men have dulled their eyes with sin (Henry Van Dyke).

–v.i.

to become dull: »

This cheap knife dulls very easily.

╂[Middle English dul, related to Old English dol dull-witted]

–dull´ness,

–dul´ness, noun.

Synonym Study adjective. 1 Dull, blunt mean without a sharp edge or point. Dull suggests that the object described has lost the sharpness it had or is not as sharp as it should be: »

This knife is dull.

Blunt suggests that the edge or point is not intended to be sharp or keen: »

The blunt side of a knife will not cut meat. The weapon was a blunt instrument, possibly a poker.