dull
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.
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‘It can sound a little vanilla and dull, but … doing the tried and true things is what it’s really all about.’
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026
Noni Madueke broke the deadlock in a dull game as Arsenal squeezed past Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
That the humor is farcical and dull, with a clangingly loud sound mix backing the clangingly obvious satire, seems intentional.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Jean and Joan’s shared existence would otherwise make their days dull and predictable, but their bizarre circumstances let them see beyond their own purview and into someone else’s, even if only for a blip.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
With some ordinary dull adult voice droning on, so the greatest danger is that I might fall asleep.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
A 1986 merger between two boringly-named pipeline companies resulted in an even duller appellation, HNG-InterNorth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
That show is growing duller, and more lethargic and repetitive, by the day, like watching reruns of a canceled sitcom.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
Further north and west however, it was duller, cooler and wetter.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2024
They don’t always mesh well, and the darker the series gets, the duller it becomes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2024
They taught less vigorously and told fewer stories, lessons became duller and more careful, and yet this seemed to be what the badge wearers wanted.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
Ms. Coppola poses the dullest questions and gets very little in response.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
“When you are a scientist, and you are trying to prove or disprove a notion, you work at the bench doing the dullest, most routine things over and over and over again,” Baltimore once explained.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025
Pandemic-era remote learning is well over, but for middle and high school students, school can still seem like an endless Zoom in the dullest sense of the word.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2023
Sunday was one of the dullest games I have watched this year but there was still a fantastic atmosphere.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2023
History of Magic was the dullest subject on their schedule.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
The mouths of journalists were agape, but time dulls horrific reality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
But the passage of time naturally dulls the horror for people farther away.
From Slate ● Jan. 14, 2026
But a place like the Grand dulls the bite of that persistent feeling.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025
In theory, each ingredient plays a role: one dries secretions, another loosens phlegm, a third dulls the cough reflex.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025
Genuine science and mathematical precision are more intriguing than are the “facts” published in supermarket tabloids or a romantic innumeracy which fosters credulity, stunts skepticism, and dulls one to real imponderables.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Part of the problem: The U.K. version’s edginess was dulled for U.S. airwaves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026
The law’s shield is shattered, and its sword is dulled.
From Slate ● May 1, 2026
The bigger question now may be less about appearance and more about whether age and inactivity have dulled those attributes.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
Five years after a Times investigation dulled the shine of the glitzy Hollywood affair, the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, airing Sunday, will cap off a multi-day series of events and tributes now dubbed “Golden Week.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2026
The smoke in the air was thinning, the roar of the fire dulled in his ears.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
He says this wetter weather has been having "a dulling effect" on the Giant's outline, leaving it greener and less distinct between maintenance work.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
Paradoxically, it is the unwavering commitment to a narrow range of recognizable figures, dulling in its totality, that turned his signature style into a full-blown brand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
The higher costs have prompted chocolate makers to raise their prices, dulling consumers' appetite for the sweets.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2025
Insect repellents are not meant to kill insects, but work by dulling their senses to prevent them from finding humans, according to the National Pesticide Information Center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2024
The sunlight has a way of dulling the world in Bakersfield, and I gaze out the window and everything is like a copy of an original.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Vocabulary lists containing dull
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 1
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 4
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