drabness

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The strict realism runs the risk of drabness; the novel’s title, for instance, is so forgettable that I have had to look it up three times in the writing of this review.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

Instead, brown, gray, beige and white are dominant, an achromatic palette whose gloomy drabness is only relieved by the surprisingly wide variety of neutrals the artist employs.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 31, 2023

The street’s 20 buildings, including Song Yang’s, are mostly three- and four-story structures from the 1980s and ’90s that evoke a utilitarian, Soviet-bloc drabness.

From New York Times • Oct. 11, 2018

And the danger is even greater in “A House Among the Trees,” which gives up a lot of white space to that caretaker, although she never shakes off the drabness of her conception.

From Washington Post • Jun. 13, 2017

It was evidently a costume play, and the sight of doublets, rapiers and helmets was a pleasant thing after the drabness of the threshold.

From The Gay Adventure A Romance by Bird, Richard