• IPA: /dʌl/
  • (Canada) IPA: /dʌl/, /dəl/, /dəɫ/
• (America)

dull (comparative duller, superlative dullest)

1. Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

   All these knives are dull.

2. Boring; not exciting or interesting.

   He sat through the dull lecture and barely stayed awake.

   When does having a dull personality ever get you a girlfriend? Even if you get one, how does being dull help you keep a relationship for over a year?

3. Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.

   Choose a dull finish to hide fingerprints.

   a dull fire or lamp;  a dull red or yellow;  a dull mirror

   • As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.

   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, OCLC 7780546 ↗; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], OCLC 2666860 ↗, page 0016 ↗:

     A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.

4. Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.
   • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:

     She is not bred so dull but she can learn.

   • dull at classical learning

5. Sluggish, listless.
   • Bible, Gospel of Matthew xiii. 15

     This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.

   • O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.

6. Cloudy, overcast.

   It's a dull day.

7. Insensible; unfeeling.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher, “The Knight of Malta”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972 ↗, Act 5, scene 2:

     Think me not / So dull a devil to forget the loss / Of such a matchless wife.

8. Heavy; lifeless; inert.
   • c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     the dull earth

   • As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.

9. (of pain etc) Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.

   Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.

10. (of a noise or sound) Not clear, muffled.

• See also Thesaurus:boring
• See also Thesaurus:stupid
• (not shiny) lackluster, matte

• bright
• intelligent
• sharp

• French: émoussé
• German: stumpf
• Italian: spuntato, smussato
• Portuguese: cego
• Russian: тупо́й
• Spanish: romo, desafilado, embotado

• French: ennuyeux, barbant
• German: fad, langweilig
• Italian: noioso, soporifero, tedioso, monotono
• Portuguese: entediante
• Russian: ску́чный
• Spanish: aburrido, soso

• French: mat, terne
• German: matt, stumpf
• Italian: opaco
• Portuguese: fosco, fusco
• Russian: ту́склый
• Spanish: mate, opaco

• French: sot, obtus, idiot
• German: blöd, blöde, dumm, dumpf
• Italian: ottuso, tardo
• Portuguese: estúpido, fátuo, imbecil, idiota
• Russian: тупо́й
• Spanish: obtuso, corto, limitado, soso

• Italian: fosco, nuvoloso
• Portuguese: nublado
• Spanish: cubierto, nublado

• French: sourd
• Spanish: sordo

dull (dulls, present participle dulling; past and past participle dulled)

1. (transitive) To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.

   Years of misuse have dulled the tools.

   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     This […] dulled their swords.

2. (transitive) To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.

   He drinks to dull the pain.

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance)​, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene vi]:

     Those [drugs] she has / Will stupefy and dull the sense a while.

   • Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.

3. (intransitive) To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.

   A razor will dull with use.

4. To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.

• dullen

• French: émousser, user
• German: abstumpfen
• Italian: smussare
• Portuguese: cegar, desafiar
• Russian: тупи́ть
• Spanish: mellar, desafilar, deslustrar

• French: adoucir, modérer, amortir, assourdir, engourdir
• German: abstumpfen
• Portuguese: suavizar
• Russian: притупля́ть
• Spanish: aliviar, alivianar, moderar, amortiguar

• French: émousser, user
• German: abstumpfen
• Portuguese: desafiar
• Russian: затупля́ться
• Spanish: redondear

1. Surname