1. (

• dull ,

) make dull in appearance; "Age had dulled the surface" ;

2. (

• dull

) become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness; "the varnished table top dulled with time" ;

3. (

• muffle ,
• mute ,
• dull ,
• damp ,
• dampen ,
• tone_down

) deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping ;

4. (

• numb ,
• benumb ,
• blunt ,
• dull ,

) make numb or insensitive; "The shock numbed her senses" ;

5. (

• dull ,
• blunt

) make dull or blunt; "Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge" ;

6. (

• pall ,
• dull ,

) become less interesting or attractive ;

7. (

• dull ,

) make less lively or vigorous; "Middle age dulled her appetite for travel" ;

1. (

• dull ,

) 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" ;

2. (

• dull ,

) emitting or reflecting very little light; "a dull glow"; "dull silver badly in need of a polish"; "a dull sky" ;

3. (

• dull ,
• muffled ,
• muted ,
• softened

) 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" ;

4. (

• boring ,
• deadening ,
• dull ,
• ho-hum ,
• irksome ,
• slow ,
• tedious ,
• tiresome ,
• wearisome

) 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" ;

5. (

• dull

) (of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted; "dull greens and blues" ;

6. (

• dull ,

) not keenly felt; "a dull throbbing"; "dull pain" ;

7. (

• dense ,
• dim ,
• dull ,
• dumb ,
• obtuse ,
• slow

) 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" ;

8. (

• dull ,
• slow ,
• sluggish

) (of business) not active or brisk; "business is dull (or slow)"; "a sluggish market" ;

9. (

• dull ,

) not having a sharp edge or point; "the knife was too dull to be of any use" ;

10. (

• dull

) blunted in responsiveness or sensibility; "a dull gaze"; "so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather ;

11. (

• dull ,
• thudding

) not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft; "the dull thud"; "thudding bullets" ;

12. (

• dull ,
• leaden

) darkened with overcast; "a dark day"; "a dull sky"; "the sky was leaden and thick" ;