English
Etymology
From Middle English dull, dul (also dyll, dill, dwal), from Old English dol (“dull, foolish, erring, heretical; foolish, silly; presumptuous”), from Proto-Germanic *dulaz, a variant of *dwalaz (“stunned, mad, foolish, misled”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwel-, *dʰewel- (“to dim, dull, cloud, make obscure, swirl, whirl”). Cognate with Scots dull, doll (“slow to understand or hear, deaf, dull”), North Frisian dol (“rash, unthinking, giddy, flippant”), Dutch dol (“crazy, mad, insane”), Low German dul, dol (“mad, silly, stupid, fatuous”), German toll (“crazy, mad, wild, fantastic”), Danish dval (“foolish, absurd”), Icelandic dulur (“secretive, silent”), West-Flemish dul (angry, furious).
Pronunciation
Adjective
dull (comparative duller, superlative dullest)
- Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.
All these knives are dull.
- 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?
- 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
- (Can we date this quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.
- Template:RQ:BLwnds TLdgr
- 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.
- Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:She is not bred so dull but she can learn.
- (Can we date this quote by William Makepeace Thackeray and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- dull at classical learning
1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 15, in The China Governess[1]:She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’
- Sluggish, listless.
- Bible, Matthew xiii. 15
- This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.
- (Can we date this quote by Edmund Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.
1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:[…] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
- Cloudy, overcast.
It's a dull day.
- Insensible; unfeeling.
- (Can we date this quote by Beaumont and Fletcher and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Think me not / So dull a devil to forget the loss / Of such a matchless wife.
- Heavy; lifeless; inert.
- (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- the dull earth
- (Can we date this quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.
- (of pain etc) Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.
- Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.
- (of a noise or sound) Not clear, muffled.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Translations
lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp
- Arabic: كَلِيل (kalīl)
- Armenian: բութ (hy) (butʻ)
- Azerbaijani: küt (az)
- Belarusian: тупы́ (tupý)
- Bengali: please add this translation if you can
- Bulgarian: тъп (bg) (tǎp)
- Burmese: တုံး (my) (tum:)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 鈍/钝 (zh) (dùn), 钝 (zh) (dùn)
- Czech: tupý (cs) m
- Danish: sløv
- Dutch: bot (nl), stomp (nl)
- Esperanto: malakra
- Finnish: tylsä (fi)
- French: émoussé (fr)
- Galician: romo m
- German: stumpf (de)
- Greek: αμβλύς (el) (amvlýs)
- Ancient: ἀμβλύς (amblús)
- Hebrew: קֵהֶה (he) m (kehe)
- Hindi: please add this translation if you can
- Hungarian: tompa (hu)
- Ido: obtuza (io)
- Indonesian: tumpul (id)
- Italian: spuntato (it), smussato (it)
- Japanese: 鈍い (ja) (にぶい, nibui)
- Korean: 무디다 (ko) (mudida)
- Kurdish:
- Sorani: Lua error in Module:parameters at line 229: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "ku" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E.
- Latgalian: naoss
- Latin: hebes, retūsus
- Latvian: truls, neass
- (deprecated template usage)
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- Luxembourgish: stompeg
- Macedonian: тап (tap)
- Maori: pūhuki, pūhoi
- Navajo: doo deení da
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: sløv
- Nynorsk: sløv, slø
- Persian: please add this translation if you can
- Polish: tępy (pl)
- Portuguese: cego (pt)
- Rapa Nui: puni
- Romanian: tocit (ro), bont (ro)
- Russian: тупо́й (ru) (tupój)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ту̑п
- Roman: tȗp (sh)
- Slovak: tupý
- Slovene: top (sl)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: tupy
- Upper Sorbian: tupy
- Spanish: romo (es), desafilado (es)
- Sundanese: mentud
- Swedish: oskarp (sv), slö (sv)
- Tagalog: mapurol (tl)
- Thai: ทื่อ (th) (tʉ̂ʉ)
- Turkish: kör (tr)
- Ukrainian: тупи́й (tupýj)
- Urdu: please add this translation if you can
- Vietnamese: cùn (vi), cùi (vi)
- Walloon: diswijhî
- Zealandic: bot
- Zulu: please add this translation if you can
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boring
- Armenian: ձանձրալի (hy) (janjrali)
- Bulgarian: ску́чен (bg) (skúčen)
- Catalan: insuls m, fat (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 無聊/无聊 (zh) (wúliáo), 无聊 (zh) (wúliáo)
- Czech: fádní
- Danish: kedelig (da)
- Dutch: saai (nl)
- Faroese: keðiligur
- Finnish: tylsä (fi), ikävystyttävä (fi), ikävä (fi), pitkäveteinen (fi), pitkästyttävä (fi)
- French: ennuyeux (fr), barbant (fr)
- Galician: eslamiado m
- German: fad (de), langweilig (de)
- Greek: βαρετός (el) (varetós), μουντός (el) (mountós)
- (deprecated template usage)
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- Hebrew: מְשַׁעֲמֵם m (meshaámem)
- Italian: noioso (it) m, soporifero (it) m, tedioso (it) m, monotono (it) m
- Japanese: 退屈な (ja) (たいくつな, taikutsu na), つまらない (ja) (tsumaranai)
- Luxembourgish: fad, langweileg
- Maori: mākihakiha, takeo
- Norwegian: kjedelig (no)
- Polish: nudny (pl)
- Portuguese: entediante (pt)
- Romanian: banal (ro)
- Russian: ску́чный (ru) (skúšnyj, skúčnyj)
- Slovene: dolgočásen (sl)
- Spanish: aburrido (es), soso (es)
- Swedish: tråkig (sv)
- Turkish: sıkıcı (tr)
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not shiny
- Bulgarian: матов (bg) (matov)
- Danish: mat (da)
- Dutch: mat (nl)
- Estonian: tuhm
- Finnish: samea (fi), himmeä (fi)
- French: mat (fr), terne (fr)
- German: matt (de), stumpf (de)
- Greek: μουντός (el) (mountós), φαιός (el) (faiós)
- Irish: neamhlonrach
- Italian: opaco (it) m
- Latvian: blāvs, nespodrs
- (deprecated template usage)
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- Luxembourgish: blatzeg
- Maori: waimeha (of colours), horotea (of colour), pīatakore, mōhanihani
- Norwegian: matt (no)
- Polish: matowy (pl) m
- Portuguese: fosco (pt), fusco (pt) m, fusca (pt) f
- Russian: ту́склый (ru) (túsklyj), ма́товый (ru) (mátovyj)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: śamny
- Spanish: mate (es), opaco (es) m
- Swedish: matt (sv)
- Turkish: mat (tr)
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not bright or intelligent
- Armenian: բութ (hy) (butʻ)
- Azerbaijani: qanmaz
- Bulgarian: тъп (bg) (tǎp)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 蠢 (zh) (chǔn)
- Danish: dum (da)
- Dutch: dom (nl)
- Estonian: nõme
- Finnish: hidasjärkinen (fi), (colloquial) sumea (fi)
- French: sot (fr), obtus (fr), idiot (fr)
- German: blöd (de), blöde (de), dumm (de), dumpf (de)
- Greek: χαζός (el) (chazós)
- Ancient: μωρός (mōrós)
- (deprecated template usage)
{{trans-mid}}
- Italian: ottuso (it), tardo (it) m
- Japanese: 鈍い (ja) (にぶい, nibui), 鈍い (ja) (のろい, noroi)
- Latin: brūtus, fatuus, idiōta, stultus
- Luxembourgish: domm, topeg
- Maori: mātotoru, rare, pūhoi, pongipongi
- Norwegian: dum (no)
- Polish: tępy (pl) m, tępa f, tępe n
- Portuguese: estúpido (pt), fátuo (pt), imbecil (pt), idiota (pt)
- Russian: тупо́й (ru) (tupój), глу́пый (ru) (glúpyj)
- Spanish: obtuso (es), corto (es) m, limitado (es) m, soso (es)
- Swedish: oskarp (sv), trög (sv)
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Translations to be checked
Verb
dull (third-person singular simple present dulls, present participle dulling, simple past and past participle dulled)
- (transitive) To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.
- Years of misuse have dulled the tools.
- (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- This […] dulled their swords.
- (transitive) To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.
- He drinks to dull the pain.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Those [drugs] she has / Will stupefy and dull the sense a while.
- (Can we date this quote by Trench and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.
- (intransitive) To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.
- A razor will dull with use.
- To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
- (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- dulls the mirror
Synonyms
Translations
to soften, moderate or blunt
- Bulgarian: смекчавам (bg) (smekčavam)
- Finnish: lievittää (fi), lieventää (fi), tylsistyttää (fi), tyhmentää, sumentaa (fi)
- French: adoucir (fr), modérer (fr), amortir (fr), assourdir (fr), engourdir (fr)
- German: abstumpfen
- Greek: αμβλύνω (el) (amvlýno)
- (deprecated template usage)
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- Maori: whakahinamoe
- Portuguese: suavizar (pt)
- Russian: притупля́ть (ru) impf (pritupljátʹ), притупи́ть (ru) pf (pritupítʹ)
- Spanish: aliviar (es), alivianar (es), moderar (es), amortiguar (es)
- Swedish: döva (sv), dämpa (sv)
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to render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish
References
- “dull”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “dull”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Welsh
Etymology
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show, point out”).[1]
Noun
dull m (plural dulliau)
- method
Mutation
References
- ^ J. Morris Jones, A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative (Oxford 1913), § 95 ii 2.