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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The nano-texture antiglare upgrade is a delight for reading outdoors, though that screen can look dull from some angles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2026
Yet a fascinating element of “Godzilla Minus Zero” — as well as director Hideaki Anno’s 2016 “Shin Godzilla” — is how they make a point of featuring saviors who are adamantly dull.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
For all of its urban flair, each story marker is visible so far in the distance that the script is about as dull as driving across Kansas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
It can sound a little vanilla and dull, but if your point is just to work toward a successful financial life, doing the tried and true things is what it’s really all about.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026
The brain freeze recedes into a dull headache that knocks at the back of my head.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
In addition to changes in appetite, users of the drugs have reported duller senses of taste, less pleasure from eating and related side effects around flavor—phenomena characterized by some as “Ozempic tongue.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 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
There is apparently no way to make these things run any faster, but Glaser, who returned often to the stage, at least gave one the impression, between the duller stretches, that it was clipping along.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2025
In general, cold water sounds brighter and splashier, while hot water sounds duller and frothier.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2024
When it quieted, he listened to the dripping, and the duller roar beneath his feet, where the waves were smashing against Breakwater’s huge stone arches and swirling through its dungeons.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
For most of its long life, public nuisance was among the dullest legal actions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
The past few years have seen huge variability in sunshine amounts, with 2024 being the dullest year since 1998, followed by 2025, which will go down as the sunniest year on record.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2025
“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
The first half might have been one of the dullest of a tournament that has already seen five 0-0 draws.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 27, 2022
Faced with an exciting question, science tended to provide the dullest possible answer.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
But the passage of time naturally dulls the horror for people farther away.
From Slate ● Jan. 14, 2026
Over time it dulls the conscience to any moral hierarchy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 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
By refusing to commit to a disquieting atmosphere, Cregger dulls his provocation, making “Weapons” feel timid, even flippant, in the face of a genuine American crisis.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2025
Time slows, the noise of the restaurant dulls.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
The law’s shield is shattered, and its sword is dulled.
From Slate ● May 1, 2026
This constant exposure has dulled the shock of many controversies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 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
The gloves are weathered and white, their brightness dulled by the decades, with the brand name “reusch” across the knuckles and a big, plum-colored sun on top.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
Their eyes closed, their feathers dulled, and their faces had become clean slates.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
But he came close enough to prove the old weapon is dulling.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 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
She said the government was not just waiting for the dulling to take place, and had invested £5m in interim, shorter-term road safety issues on the A9.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2025
Too much media would be numbing, dulling, cheat her children of an engaged life, the kind she’d always craved as a child.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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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