adj. 25B6; adjective
a dull novel : UNINTERESTING, boring, tedious, monotonous, unrelieved, unvaried, unimaginative, uneventful; characterless, featureless, colourless, lifeless, insipid, unexciting, uninspiring, unstimulating, jejune, flat, bland, dry, stale, tired, banal, lacklustre, stodgy, dreary, humdrum, mundane; mind-numbing, soul-destroying, wearisome, tiring, tiresome, irksome; informal deadly, not up to much; Brit. informal samey; N. Amer. informal dullsville.
a dull morning : OVERCAST, cloudy, gloomy, dark, dismal, dreary, sombre, grey, murky, sunless.
dull colours : DRAB, dreary, sombre, dark, subdued, muted, lacklustre, faded, washed out, muddy.
a dull sound : MUFFLED, muted, quiet, soft, faint, indistinct; stifled, suppressed.
the chisel became dull : BLUNT, unsharpened, edgeless, worn down.
a rather dull child : UNINTELLIGENT, stupid, slow, witless, vacuous, empty-headed, brainless, mindless, foolish, idiotic; informal dense, dim, moronic, cretinous, half-witted, thick, dumb, dopey, dozy, bovine, slow on the uptake, wooden-headed, fat-headed.
her cold made her feel dull : SLUGGISH, lethargic, enervated, listless, languid, torpid, slow, sleepy, drowsy, weary, tired, fatigued; apathetic; informal dozy, dopey, yawny.
interesting, bright, loud, resonant, sharp, clever.
25B6; verb
the pain was dulled by drugs : LESSEN, decrease, diminish, reduce, dampen, blunt, deaden, allay, ease, soothe, assuage, alleviate.
sleep dulled her mind : NUMB, benumb, deaden, desensitize, stupefy, daze.
the leaves are dulled by mildew : FADE, bleach, decolorize, decolour, etiolate.
rain dulled the sky : DARKEN, blacken, dim, veil, obscure, shadow, fog.
the sombre atmosphere dulled her spirit : DAMPEN, lower, depress, crush, sap, extinguish, smother, stifle.
intensify, enliven, enhance, brighten.