Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use dull in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, verb, noun

Dull means lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp. Example: “All these knives are dull.”

Examples of dull by meaning

adjectiveLacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

  • All these knives are dull.

adjectiveBoring; not exciting or interesting.

  • He sat through the dull lecture and barely stayed awake.
  • But there we were given only the dullest, driest, pemmicanised forms like The Student's Hume, Once I had a hundred pages of The Student's Hume as a holiday task.2012, Winston S. Churchill, Martin Gilbert, Churchill: The Power of Words, page 14

adjectiveNot shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.

  • Choose a dull finish to hide fingerprints.
  • a dull fire or lamp; a dull red or yellow; a dull mirror
  • A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The...

adjectiveSluggish, listless.

  • Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

adjectiveBored, depressed, down.

  • I felt dull all day.

adjectiveCloudy, overcast.

  • It's a dull day.

adjectiveNot intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.

  • Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.

verbTo render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.

  • Years of misuse have dulled the tools.

More sentences with dull

  • Proper maintenance of your cutlery will keep the blades from dulling.From the entry cutlery
  • The Princess brought grace to an otherwise dull and boring party.From the entry grace
  • Improper cooling and a dull milling cutter on titanium can gall the surface.From the entry gall
  • Dull job, no interests, no dates. He's really in a rut.From the entry rut
  • He could feel a dull throb in his head from the tension.From the entry throb
  • The barker looks action-packed, but actually playing the game is rather dull.From the entry barker
  • Sitting through his PowerPoints is a dull, but necessary, requisite for the job.From the entry powerpoint
  • Bostonian fashions are reserved, even dull, when compared to California style.From the entry Bostonian
  • The show's singing and acting was excellent, but the choreography was dull and poorly-done.From the entry choreography
  • The party was very dull, so I made an early doors exit.From the entry early doors
  • The orange and blue walls of the sitting room were much brighter than the dull grey walls of the kitchen.From the entry bright
  • The car's dull finish showed years of neglect.From the entry show
  • Although quite dull during the day, the main street comes alive at night, with many bars and clubs opening.From the entry alive
  • The addition of the second batch of paint muddied the bright colours to a dull and washed look.From the entry muddy
  • The film was cinematically interesting, but the story was dull.From the entry cinematically
  • He was quite a gigglemug and brightened the dull Monday.From the entry gigglemug
  • His speech was long and dull.From the entry long
  • It was a grindingly dull lecture.From the entry grindingly
  • Being a "deskie," over time, somehow proved simultaneously interesting and dull.2024, Lydia Paar, The Exit is the Entrance, University of Georgia Press, →ISBN, page 134. From the entry deskie
  • Deadgrass is a rather unromantic description for a brown coat with dull grayish tan mixed in.2021 July 28, Karen Harris, The Complete Guide to Chesapeake Bay Retrievers: Training, Socializing, Feeding, Exercising, Caring for, and…. From the entry deadgrass
  • Rude, open tanks extended on every side, dull with ultraviolet lamps, atrickle with hosed chemicals.2020, Damien Broderick, The Dreaming. From the entry atrickle
  • And the external two layers of cap are whitish and dull orange.2019, Jim Meuninck, Foraging Mushrooms Washington, page 45. From the entry corkish
  • Cannel is dull black in colour while boghead is dull brownish.2018, O. P. Gupta, Elements of Fuel & Combustion Technology, page 35. From the entry cannel
  • Dulled by the burlap, Josiah’s incoherent implorations were a soft, wet mumble.2017, Hernan Diaz, In the Distance, Daunt Books (2018), page 230. From the entry imploration
  • Many apple varieties are mottled or russet, with a rough, dull skin hiding crisp, flavorful flesh.2015, Jennifer A. Jordan, “Remembering Applies”, in Edible Memory: The Lure of Heirloom Tomatoes & Other Forgotten Foods, Chicago, Ill.…. From the entry russet
  • Never a dull moment much love to you axe as well.2015 June 23, Brendon Egan, quoting Slade McFarland, “Norman Berryman Emotional Tribute by John Akurangi”, in Stuff.co.nz, archived from…. From the entry chur
  • Some makitras were beautifully decorated from the outside and it was either glossy or dull.2010, Nadejda Reilly, “Kutia, Bleenchiki, Sweet Zapikanka, Kisil, Compote, and Other Desserts and Toppings”, in Ukrainian Cuisine with an…. From the entry makitra
  • Martin was pretty dull as names went but 'Alex Blake' had a certain dash to it.2006, Kate Atkinson, One Good Turn, Black Swan, published 2007, →ISBN, page 81. From the entry Alex
  • She had a dull headache that could have been from her injury or from not eating.2005, Kelsey Roberts, Chasing Secrets, Toronto: Harlequin, →ISBN, page 230. From the entry unhit

Meaning of dull

  1. adjective Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.
  2. adjective Boring; not exciting or interesting.
  3. adjective Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.

Full definition of dull

Questions about dull in a sentence

How do you use dull in a sentence?
Dull is used as an adjective, verb and noun. For example: “All these knives are dull.”
What is a short sentence with dull?
“It's a dull day.”
What does dull mean?
Dull means lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dull (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use dull in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/dull. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.