dull
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- boring, dreary, flat, humdrum, monotonous, plain, run-of-the-mill, tedious, uninteresting
- stupid, dense, dim-witted (informal), dozy (Brit. informal), slow, thick, unintelligent
- cloudy, dim, dismal, gloomy, leaden, overcast
- lifeless, apathetic, blank, indifferent, listless, passionless, unresponsive
- blunt, blunted, unsharpened
[verb]
Synonyms:
- relieve, allay, alleviate, blunt, lessen, moderate, soften, take the edge off

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Antonyms: sharp, bright, clear, rich, lively, sharpen
Contrasted words: advanced, precocious, honed, keen, razor-sharp, unblunted, whetted, beaming, bright, brilliant, effulgent, fulgent, incandescent, lambent, lucent, lucid, luminous, lustrous, radiant, refulgent, burnished, polished, shiny, animating, exciting, stimulating, gay, spritely, brighten, freshen, intensify, edge, hone, quicken, stimulate, whet
Related Idioms: dull as ditchwater, take the edge off
Related Words: blunted, dulled, unsharpened, cold, dingy, drab, dun, leaden, somber, deadened, lifeless, blurry, cloudy, hazy, flat, lackluster, lusterless, mousy, boring, irksome, tedious, tiring, wearisome, brainless, exhausting, fagging, fatiguing, matter-of-fact, prosaic, prosy, bloodless, discolor, wash out, blur, debilitate, enfeeble, weaken, darken, retard, slow, becloud, befog, cloud, dim, benumb, deaden, numb

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English Thesaurus: boring, not very interesting, dull, tedious, monotonous, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. dull¹ S3 /dʌl/ adjective (comparative duller, superlative dullest)
[Language: Old English; Origin: dol]

1. BORING not interesting or exciting:
Life is never dull when Elizabeth is here.
a dull movie
It sounded pretty dull to me.
The weekly meeting tends to be deadly dull (=very dull).
Last week we had a hurricane. Never a dull moment running a hotel in the Caribbean (=it’s always interesting or exciting).

REGISTER
In everyday English, people usually say boring rather than dull:
a long, boring film

2. COLOUR/LIGHT not bright or shiny:
The bird is dull brown and gray in colour.
Her eyes were dull with dark shadows beneath them.
the dull afternoon light

3. WEATHER not bright and with lots of clouds:
Outside the weather was hazy and dull.
a dull sky

4. PAIN a dull pain is not severe but does not stop Antonym : sharp:
a dull ache in her lower back
The pain was dull but persistent.

5. SOUND not clear or loud:
The gates shut with a dull thud.

6. KNIFE/BLADE not sharp Synonym : blunt

7. NOT INTELLIGENT old-fashioned not able to think quickly or understand things easily Synonym : stupid:
If you don’t understand then you’re duller than I thought.

8. TRADE if business on the Stock Exchange is dull, few people are buying and selling Antonym : brisk
—dully adverb:
‘Well Michael?’ he said dully.
Her stomach ached dully.
—dullness noun [uncountable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. dull² verb

1. [transitive] to make something become less sharp or clear:
He drank some alcohol to dull the pain.
Her fear and anxiety dulled her mind.

2. [intransitive and transitive] to become less bright or loud, or to make something become less bright or loud:
His eyes dulled a little.
The constant rain dulled all sound.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

dull
adj.
VERBS appear, be, look, seem, sound | become, get The work gets a bit dull at times.
make sth The long lectures made the afternoon dull.
find sth
ADV. deadly, extremely, stupefyingly, very The film was long and deadly dull.
a bit, a little, fairly, pretty, rather, somewhat | disappointingly

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

dull
adjective
BAD: If I did the same thing every day, I would be dull.
GOOD: If I did the same thing every day, I would be bored.
DUBIOUS: It was such a dull job that I decided to leave.
GOOD: It was such a boring job that I decided to leave.

Usage Note:
When dull is used to describe a person, it means 'slow to learn or understand': 'He was one of the dullest students I'd ever taught.'
Both dull and boring can mean 'uninteresting' but in this sense dull usually describes a lecture, book, film etc: 'The lecture was so dull that some of the students got up and left.'
bored = tired and uninterested: 'bored students'
boring = causing someone to be tired and uninterested: 'a boring lesson'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

boring not interesting in any way:
a boring speech
He found school incredibly boring.
not very interesting [not before noun] very ordinary and therefore rather boring. People often use this phrase in everyday English, instead of saying directly that something is boring:
The story wasn’t very interesting.
dull especially written boring:
The conference was usually a dull affair.
Life was never dull.
tedious /ˈtiːdiəs/ very boring and continuing for a long time:
The process was tedious and slow.
Jake began the tedious task of sorting through his papers.
monotonous /məˈnɒtənəs $ məˈnɑː-/ boring and always the same:
The work was monotonous and unchallenging.
He was only half listening to the monotonous voice of the teacher.
mundane /mʌnˈdeɪn/ rather boring, because it is connected with things you do regularly as part of your daily life:
He busied himself with the mundane task of cleaning the house.
Most arguments are over mundane issues like spending or saving money.
humdrum /ˈhʌmdrʌm/ [usually before noun] boring because nothing new or interesting ever happens:
He wanted to escape his humdrum life.
a humdrum existence
dry a subject, piece of writing etc that is dry is boring because it is very serious and does not contain any humour:
The students complained that the lecture was dry and uninspiring.
a dry academic volume

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

quiet not making a loud sound:
I heard a quiet voice behind me.
a car with a quiet engine
low quiet – especially because you do not want people to hear or be disturbed:
Doug was on the phone, speaking in a low voice.
I turned the volume down low.
soft quiet and pleasant to listen to:
Soft music was playing in the background.
His voice was soft and gentle.
silent not making any sound at all:
a silent prayer
silent laughter
The machines were virtually silent.
hushed deliberately quiet because you do not want people to hear – used about people’s voices:
They were talking about money in hushed tones.
The doctor’s voice was hushed and urgent.
faint quiet and difficult to hear because it comes from a long way away:
The men went ahead and their voices got fainter and fainter.
the faint sound of bells
muffled difficult to hear, for example because the sound comes from another room or someone’s mouth is covered by something:
Muffled voices were coming from downstairs.
the muffled sound of someone crying
dull [only before noun] a dull sound is not loud – used especially about the sound of something hitting another thing:
He hit the ground with a dull thud.
inaudible too quiet to hear:
The sound is inaudible to the human ear.
Her answer came in an almost inaudible whisper.
peaceful (also tranquil especially written) quiet in a pleasant and relaxing way:
Life’s more peaceful in the countryside.
The hotel is set in tranquil surroundings.
sleepy [only before noun] quiet – used about a town or village where there are not many people and very little happens:
a sleepy fishing village
taciturn /ˈtæsətɜːn, ˈtæsɪtɜːn $ -ɜːrn/ formal not talking much and seeming a little unfriendly or bad-tempered:
He found Vaughn a taciturn and rather difficult person.
reticent unwilling to talk to other people, especially about a particular subject:
She’s always been reticent about her early life.
a man/woman of few words someone who does not talk much, especially because they only speak when there is something important to say:
My father was a man of few words, but when he spoke everyone listened.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

dull
dʌl
See: all work and no play makes jack a dull boy

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲