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# dull

«dull» in Mova's school dictionary: **boring, not interesting or exciting** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (dull, duller, dullest); verb (dull, dulls, dulled, dulling)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Dull means boring, not interesting or exciting. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#m1)

2) Dull means not bright or shiny, like a grey sky or faded colours. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#m2)

3) A dull blade or pencil is not sharp. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#m3)

4) A dull sound or pain is not sharp or clear but soft and heavy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#m4)

5) To dull something is to make it less strong or less bright. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In writing lessons, children replace dull words with interesting ones. In weather, a dull day is cloudy and grey. In science, metals are shiny but some materials are dull. In health, a dull ache is a steady pain. Phrases: «a dull day», «never a dull moment», «a dull ache», «dull the pain».

### examples

- The film was so dull that I fell asleep. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#x1)
- It was a dull, grey morning. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#x2)
- This knife is dull; it won't cut the bread. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#x3)
- I heard a dull thud from upstairs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#x4)
- He had a dull pain in his tooth. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#x5)
- Polish the dull spoons until they shine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#x6)
- With my little brother around, there's never a dull moment. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#x7)
- The medicine dulled the pain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#x8)
- Soon he found life in the pasture very dull. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/#x9)

### note

Comparatives: duller, dullest. Opposites: «interesting», «exciting» (boring sense); «bright», «shiny» (look); «sharp» (blade). Safety oddity: a dull knife can be more dangerous because you push harder. In science, «dull» is a property of materials, opposite of «shiny». Not a number word.

### In the corpora

- [The Mole asks «But isn't it a bit dull at times?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/26-willows-ch1-part2-the-river-and-the-wild-wood/19/)
- [Slowly the fits come less often — but Toad grows dull, droopy and sad.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/46-willows-ch6-part2-not-sorry-and-locked-up/15/)
- [Toad feels «a dull pain in the lower part of his spine» — that is how fear feels to him.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/55-willows-ch8-part4-the-chase-and-the-tunnel/9/)
- [Grandma's best silver spoons come out of the drawer dull and almost black, even though nobody has used them.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/14-tarnish-and-how-metals-change/0/)
- [Silver darkens, copper goes dull brown and then green, and bronze statues in the park grow green streaks.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/14-tarnish-and-how-metals-change/3/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «dull» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dull/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.