Blunt vs. Dull

Bluntadjective

Having a thick edge or point; not sharp.

Dulladjective

Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

‘All these knives are dull.’;

Bluntadjective

Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; opposed to acute.

Dulladjective

Boring; not exciting or interesting.

‘He sat through the dull lecture and barely stayed awake.’; ‘When does having a dull personality ever get you a girlfriend? Even if you get one, how does being dull help you keep a relationship for over a year?’;

Bluntadjective

Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.

‘the blunt admission that he had never liked my company’;

Dulladjective

Not 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’;

Bluntadjective

Hard to impress or penetrate.

Dulladjective

Not bright or intelligent; stupid; slow of understanding.

Bluntadjective

Slow or deficient in feeling: insensitive.

Dulladjective

Sluggish, listless.

Bluntnoun

A fencer's practice foil with a soft tip.

Dulladjective

Cloudy, overcast.

‘It's a dull day.’;

Bluntnoun

A short needle with a strong point.

Dulladjective

Insensible; unfeeling.

Bluntnoun

(smoking) A marijuana cigar.

Dulladjective

Heavy; lifeless; inert.

Bluntnoun

money

Dulladjective

(of pain etc) Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.

‘Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.’;

Bluntnoun

A playboating move resembling a cartwheel performed on a wave.

Dulladjective

Not clear, muffled.

Bluntverb

To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.

Dullverb

(transitive) To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.

‘Years of misuse have dulled the tools.’;

Bluntverb

(figuratively) To repress or weaken; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of

‘It blunted my appetite.’; ‘My feeling towards her have been blunted.’;

Dullverb

(transitive) To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.

‘He drinks to dull the pain.’;

Bluntadjective

Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument; dull; not sharp.

‘The murderous knife was dull and blunt.’;

Dullverb

(intransitive) To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.

‘A razor will dull with use.’;

Bluntadjective

Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; stupid; - opposed to acute.

‘His wits are not so blunt.’;

Dullverb

To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.

Bluntadjective

Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.

Dulladjective

Slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish.

‘She is not bred so dull but she can learn.’;

Bluntadjective

Hard to impress or penetrate.

‘I find my heart hardened and blunt to new impressions.’;

Dulladjective

Slow in action; sluggish; unready; awkward.

‘This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.’; ‘O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.’;

Bluntverb

To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.

Dulladjective

Insensible; unfeeling.

‘Think me notSo dull a devil to forget the lossOf such a matchless wife.’;

Bluntverb

To repress or weaken, as any appetite, desire, or power of the mind; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of; as, to blunt the feelings.

Dulladjective

Not keen in edge or point; lacking sharpness; blunt.

Bluntnoun

A fencer's foil.

Dulladjective

Not bright or clear to the eye; wanting in liveliness of color or luster; not vivid; obscure; dim; as, a dull fire or lamp; a dull red or yellow; a dull mirror.

Bluntnoun

A short needle with a strong point. See Needle.

Dulladjective

Heavy; gross; cloggy; insensible; spiritless; lifeless; inert.

‘As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.’;

Bluntnoun

Money.

Dulladjective

Furnishing little delight, spirit, or variety; uninteresting; tedious; cheerless; gloomy; melancholy; depressing; as, a dull story or sermon; a dull occupation or period; hence, cloudy; overcast; as, a dull day.

‘Along life's dullest, dreariest walk.’;

Bluntverb

make less intense;

‘blunted emotions’;

Dullverb

To deprive of sharpness of edge or point.

‘Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.’;

Bluntverb

make numb or insensitive;

‘The shock numbed her senses’;

Dullverb

To make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy, as the senses, the feelings, the perceptions, and the like.

‘Those [drugs] she hasWill stupefy and dull the sense a while.’; ‘Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.’;

Bluntverb

make dull or blunt;

‘Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge’;

Dullverb

To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.

Bluntverb

make less sharp;

‘blunt the knives’;

Dullverb

To deprive of liveliness or activity; to render heavy; to make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden.

‘Attention of mind . . . wasted or dulled through continuance.’;

Bluntverb

make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation;

‘Terror blunted her feelings’; ‘deaden a sound’;

Dullverb

To become dull or stupid.

Bluntadjective

having a broad or rounded end;

‘thick marks made by a blunt pencil’;

Dullverb

make dull in appearance;

‘Age had dulled the surface’;

Bluntadjective

used of a knife or other blade; not sharp;

‘a blunt instrument’;

Dullverb

become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness;

‘the varnished table top dulled with time’;

Bluntadjective

characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion;

‘blunt talking and straight shooting’; ‘a blunt New England farmer’; ‘I gave them my candid opinion’; ‘forthright criticism’; ‘a forthright approach to the problem’; ‘tell me what you think--and you may just as well be frank’; ‘it is possible to be outspoken without being rude’; ‘plainspoken and to the point’; ‘a point-blank accusation’;

Dullverb

deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping

Bluntadjective

devoid of any qualifications or disguise or adornment;

‘the blunt truth’; ‘the crude facts’; ‘facing the stark reality of the deadline’;

Dullverb

make numb or insensitive;

‘The shock numbed her senses’;

Dullverb

make dull or blunt;

‘Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge’;

Dullverb

become less interesting or attractive

Dullverb

make less lively or vigorous;

‘Middle age dulled her appetite for travel’;

Dulladjective

lacking in liveliness or animation;

‘he was so dull at parties’; ‘a dull political campaign’; ‘a large dull impassive man’; ‘dull days with nothing to do’; ‘how dull and dreary the world is’; ‘fell back into one of her dull moods’;

Dulladjective

emitting or reflecting very little light;

‘a dull glow’; ‘dull silver badly in need of a polish’; ‘a dull sky’;

Dulladjective

being or made softer or less loud or clear;

‘the dull boom of distant breaking waves’; ‘muffled drums’; ‘the muffled noises of the street’; ‘muted trumpets’;

Dulladjective

so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness;

‘a boring evening with uninteresting people’; ‘the deadening effect of some routine tasks’; ‘a dull play’; ‘his competent but dull performance’; ‘a ho-hum speaker who couldn't capture their attention’; ‘what an irksome task the writing of long letters is’; ‘tedious days on the train’; ‘the tiresome chirping of a cricket’; ‘other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome’;

Dulladjective

(of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted;

‘dull greens and blues’;

Dulladjective

not keenly felt;

‘a dull throbbing’; ‘dull pain’;

Dulladjective

slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity;

‘so dense he never understands anything I say to him’; ‘never met anyone quite so dim’; ‘although dull at classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly quick’; ‘dumb officials make some really dumb decisions’; ‘he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse’; ‘worked with the slow students’;

Dulladjective

(of business) not active or brisk;

‘business is dull (or slow)’; ‘a sluggish market’;

Dulladjective

not having a sharp edge or point;

‘the knife was too dull to be of any use’;

Dulladjective

blunted in responsiveness or sensibility;

‘a dull gaze’; ‘so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her’;

Dulladjective

not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft;

‘the dull thud’; ‘thudding bullets’;

Dulladjective

darkened with overcast;

‘a dark day’; ‘a dull sky’; ‘a gray rainy afternoon’; ‘gray clouds’; ‘the sky was leaden and thick’;