Antonyms of verb dull

1 of 7 senses of dull

Sense 5
dull, blunt -- (make dull or blunt; "Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge")
       Antonym of sharpen (Sense 1)
      => sharpen -- (make sharp or sharper; "sharpen the knives")

Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb dull

7 senses of dull

Sense 1
dull -- (make dull in appearance; "Age had dulled the surface")
       => change, alter, modify -- (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue")

Sense 2
dull -- (become dull or lusterless in appearance; lose shine or brightness; "the varnished table top dulled with time")
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 3
muffle, mute, dull, damp, dampen, tone down -- (deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping)
       => soften -- (make (images or sounds) soft or softer)

Sense 4
numb, benumb, blunt, dull -- (make numb or insensitive; "The shock numbed her senses")
       => desensitize, desensitise -- (cause not to be sensitive; "The war desensitized many soldiers"; "The photographic plate was desensitized")

Sense 5
dull, blunt -- (make dull or blunt; "Too much cutting dulls the knife's edge")
       => change, alter, modify -- (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue")

Sense 6
pall, dull -- (become less interesting or attractive)
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 7
dull -- (make less lively or vigorous; "Middle age dulled her appetite for travel")
       => weaken -- (become weaker; "The prisoner's resistance weakened after seven days")

Antonyms of adj dull

12 senses of dull

Sense 1
dull (vs. lively) -- (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")

lively (vs. dull) -- (full of life and energy; "a lively discussion"; "lively and attractive parents"; "a lively party")
        => alive (predicate) -- ((often followed by `with') full of life and spirit; "she was wonderfully alive for her age"; "a face alive with mischief")
        => bouncing, bouncy, peppy, spirited, zippy -- (marked by lively action; "a bouncing gait"; "bouncy tunes"; "the peppy and interesting talk"; "a spirited dance")
        => breezy -- (fresh and animated; "her breezy nature")
        => bubbly -- (full of or showing high spirits; "bright bubbly children"; "a bubbly personality")
        => bubbling, effervescent, frothy, scintillating, sparkly -- (marked by high spirits or excitement; "his fertile effervescent mind"; "scintillating personality"; "a row of sparkly cheerleaders")
        => burbling, burbly, effusive, gushing -- (uttered with unrestrained enthusiasm; "a novel told in burbly panting tones")
        => live -- (abounding with life and energy; "the club members are a really live bunch")
        => warm -- (characterized by liveliness or excitement or disagreement; "a warm debate")

Sense 2
dull (vs. bright) -- (emitting or reflecting very little light; "a dull glow"; "dull silver badly in need of a polish"; "a dull sky")

bright (vs. dull) -- (emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts; "the sun was bright and hot"; "a bright sunlit room")
        => agleam, gleaming, nitid -- (bright with a steady but subdued shining; "from the plane we saw the city below agleam with lights"; "the gleaming brass on the altar"; "Nereids beneath the nitid moon")
        => aglow (predicate), lambent, lucent, luminous -- (softly bright or radiant; "a house aglow with lights"; "glowing embers"; "lambent tongues of flame"; "the lucent moon"; "a sky luminous with stars")
        => aglitter (predicate), coruscant, fulgid, glinting, glistering, glittering, glittery, scintillant, scintillating, sparkly -- (having brief brilliant points or flashes of light; "bugle beads all aglitter"; "glinting eyes"; "glinting water"; "his glittering eyes were cold and malevolent"; "shop window full of glittering Christmas trees"; "glittery costume jewelry"; "scintillant mica"; "the scintillating stars"; "a dress with sparkly sequins"; "`glistering' is an archaic term")
        => beady, beadlike, buttony, buttonlike -- (small and round and shiny like a shiny bead or button; "bright beady eyes"; "black buttony eyes")
        => beaming, beamy, effulgent, radiant, refulgent -- (radiating or as if radiating light; "the beaming sun"; "the effulgent daffodils"; "a radiant sunrise"; "a refulgent sunset")
        => blazing, blinding, dazzling, fulgent, glaring, glary -- (shining intensely; "the blazing sun"; "blinding headlights"; "dazzling snow"; "fulgent patterns of sunlight"; "the glaring sun")
        => bright as a new penny (predicate) -- ((metaphor) shining brightly)
        => brilliant -- (full of light; shining intensely; "a brilliant star"; "brilliant chandeliers")
        => ardent -- (glowing or shining like fire; "from rank to rank she darts her ardent eyes"- Alexander Pope; "frightened by his ardent burning eyes")
        => glimmery -- (shining softly and intermittently; "glimmery candlelight")
        => glistening, glossy, lustrous, sheeny, shiny, shining -- (reflecting light; "glistening bodies of swimmers"; "the horse's glossy coat"; "lustrous auburn hair"; "saw the moon like a shiny dime on a deep blue velvet carpet"; "shining white enamel")
        => iridescent, nacreous, opalescent, opaline, pearlescent -- (having a play of lustrous rainbow colors; "an iridescent oil slick"; "nacreous (or pearlescent) clouds looking like mother-of-pearl"; "a milky opalescent (or opaline) luster")
        => lurid -- (shining with an unnatural red glow as of fire seen through smoke; "a lurid sunset"; "lurid flames")
        => noctilucent -- (shining or glowing by night; "the noctilucent eyes of a cat")
        => satiny, sleek, silken, silky, silklike, slick -- (having a smooth, gleaming surface reflecting light; "glossy auburn hair"; "satiny gardenia petals"; "sleek black fur"; "silken eyelashes"; "silky skin"; "a silklike fabric"; "slick seals and otters")
        => self-luminous -- (having in itself the property of emitting light)
        => shimmery -- (glistening tremulously; "the shimmery surface of the lake"; "a dress of shimmery satin")
        => silver, silvern, silvery -- (having the white lustrous sheen of silver; "a land of silver (or silvern) rivers where the salmon leap"; "repeated scrubbings have given the wood a silvery sheen")
        => twinkling (prenominal) -- (shining intermittently with a sparkling light; "twinkling stars")

Sense 3
dull, muffled, muted, softened -- (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")

INDIRECT (VIA soft) -> loud -- (characterized by or producing sound of great volume or intensity; "a group of loud children"; "loud thunder"; "her voice was too loud"; "loud trombones")

Sense 4
boring, deadening, dull, ho-hum, irksome, slow, tedious, tiresome, wearisome -- (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"- Edmund Burke; "tedious days on the train"; "the tiresome chirping of a cricket"- Mark Twain; "other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome")

INDIRECT (VIA uninteresting) -> interesting -- (arousing or holding the attention)

Sense 5
dull -- ((of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted; "dull greens and blues")

INDIRECT (VIA unsaturated) -> saturated, pure -- ((of color) being chromatically pure; not diluted with white or grey or black)

Sense 6
dull (vs. sharp) -- (not keenly felt; "a dull throbbing"; "dull pain")

sharp (vs. dull) -- (keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point; "a sharp pain"; "sharp winds")
        => acute, intense -- (extremely sharp or intense; "acute pain"; "felt acute annoyance"; "intense itching and burning")
        => cutting, keen, knifelike, piercing, stabbing, lancinate, lancinating -- (painful as if caused by a sharp instrument; "a cutting wind"; "keen winds"; "knifelike cold"; "piercing knifelike pains"; "piercing cold"; "piercing criticism"; "a stabbing pain"; "lancinating pain")
        => fulgurating -- (sharp and piercing)
        => salt -- ((of speech) painful or bitter; "salt scorn"- Shakespeare; "a salt apology")

Sense 7
dense, dim, dull, dumb, obtuse, slow -- (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"- Thackeray; "dumb officials make some really dumb decisions"; "he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse"; "worked with the slow students")

INDIRECT (VIA stupid) -> smart -- (showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness)

Sense 8
dull, slow, sluggish -- ((of business) not active or brisk; "business is dull (or slow)"; "a sluggish market")

INDIRECT (VIA inactive) -> active -- (full of activity or engaged in continuous activity; "an active seaport"; "an active bond market"; "an active account")

Sense 9
dull (vs. sharp) -- (not having a sharp edge or point; "the knife was too dull to be of any use")

sharp (vs. dull) -- (having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing; "a sharp knife"; "a pencil with a sharp point")
        => carnassial -- ((of a tooth) adapted for shearing flesh; "the carnassial teeth of carnivores")
        => chisel-like -- (resembling a chisel)
        => dagger-like -- (resembling a dagger)
        => drill-like -- (resembling a drill)
        => edged -- (having a cutting edge or especially an edge or edges as specified; often used in combination; "an edged knife"; "a two-edged sword")
        => fang-like -- (resembling a fang)
        => file-like -- (resembling a file)
        => incisive -- (suitable for cutting or piercing; "incisive teeth")
        => keen -- (having a sharp cutting edge or point; "a keen blade")
        => knifelike -- (cutting or able to cut as if with a knife)
        => metal-cutting -- (hard and sharp enough to cut metal; "metal-cutting tools")
        => penetrative, penetrating -- (tending to penetrate; having the power of entering or piercing; "a toxic penetrative spray applied to the surface"; "a cold penetrating wind"; "a penetrating odor")
        => razor-sharp -- (as sharp as a razor)
        => sharpened -- (made sharp or sharper; "a sharpened knife cuts more cleanly")
        => sharp-toothed -- (having sharp teeth)

Sense 10
dull -- (blunted in responsiveness or sensibility; "a dull gaze"; "so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather)

INDIRECT (VIA insensitive) -> sensitive -- (being susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others; "sensitive to the local community and its needs")

Sense 11
dull, thudding -- (not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft; "the dull thud"; "thudding bullets")

INDIRECT (VIA unreverberant) -> reverberant -- (having a tendency to reverberate or be repeatedly reflected; "a reverberant room"; "the reverberant booms of cannon")

Sense 12
dull, leaden -- (darkened with overcast; "a dark day"; "a dull sky"; "the sky was leaden and thick")

INDIRECT (VIA cloudy) -> clear -- (free from clouds or mist or haze; "on a clear day")

Similarity of adj dull

12 senses of dull

Sense 1
dull (vs. lively) -- (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")
       => arid, desiccate, desiccated -- (lacking vitality or spirit; lifeless; "a technically perfect but arid performance of the sonata"; "a desiccate romance"; "a prissy and emotionless creature...settles into a mold of desiccated snobbery"-C.J.Rolo)
       => bovine -- (dull and slow-moving and stolid; like an ox; "showed a bovine apathy")
       => drab, dreary -- (lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise; "her drab personality"; "life was drab compared with the more exciting life style overseas"; "a series of dreary dinner parties")
       => heavy, leaden -- (lacking lightness or liveliness; "heavy humor"; "a leaden conversation")
       => humdrum, monotonous -- (tediously repetitious or lacking in variety; "a humdrum existence; all work and no play"; "nothing is so monotonous as the sea")
       => lackluster, lacklustre, lusterless, lustreless -- (lacking brilliance or vitality; "a dull lackluster life"; "a lusterless performance")
          Also See-> colorless#1, colourless#1; spiritless#1; unanimated#1

Sense 2
dull (vs. bright) -- (emitting or reflecting very little light; "a dull glow"; "dull silver badly in need of a polish"; "a dull sky")
       => flat, mat, matt, matte, matted -- (not reflecting light; not glossy; "flat wall paint"; "a photograph with a matte finish")
       => lackluster, lacklustre, lusterless, lustreless -- (lacking luster or shine; "staring with lackluster eyes"; "lusterless hair")
       => soft, subdued -- (not brilliant or glaring; "the moon cast soft shadows"; "soft pastel colors"; "subdued lighting")
          Also See-> unpolished#1

Sense 3
dull, muffled, muted, softened -- (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")
       => soft (vs. loud) -- ((of sound) relatively low in volume; "soft voices"; "soft music")

Sense 4
boring, deadening, dull, ho-hum, irksome, slow, tedious, tiresome, wearisome -- (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"- Edmund Burke; "tedious days on the train"; "the tiresome chirping of a cricket"- Mark Twain; "other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome")
       => uninteresting (vs. interesting) -- (arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement; "a very uninteresting account of her trip")

Sense 5
dull -- ((of color) very low in saturation; highly diluted; "dull greens and blues")
       => unsaturated (vs. saturated) -- ((of color) not chromatically pure; diluted; "an unsaturated red")

Sense 6
dull (vs. sharp) -- (not keenly felt; "a dull throbbing"; "dull pain")
       => deadened -- (made or become less intense; "the deadened pangs of hunger")

Sense 7
dense, dim, dull, dumb, obtuse, slow -- (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"- Thackeray; "dumb officials make some really dumb decisions"; "he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse"; "worked with the slow students")
       => stupid (vs. smart) -- (lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity)

Sense 8
dull, slow, sluggish -- ((of business) not active or brisk; "business is dull (or slow)"; "a sluggish market")
       => inactive (vs. active) -- (lacking activity; lying idle or unused; "an inactive mine"; "inactive accounts"; "inactive machinery")

Sense 9
dull (vs. sharp) -- (not having a sharp edge or point; "the knife was too dull to be of any use")
       => blunt -- (used of a knife or other blade; not sharp; "a blunt instrument")
       => blunted, dulled -- (made dull or blunt)
       => edgeless -- (lacking a cutting edge)
       => unsharpened -- (not sharpened)

Sense 10
dull -- (blunted in responsiveness or sensibility; "a dull gaze"; "so exhausted she was dull to what went on about her"- Willa Cather)
       => insensitive (vs. sensitive) -- (deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive; "insensitive to the needs of the patients")

Sense 11
dull, thudding -- (not clear and resonant; sounding as if striking with or against something relatively soft; "the dull thud"; "thudding bullets")
       => unreverberant (vs. reverberant), nonresonant -- (not reverberant; lacking a tendency to reverberate)

Sense 12
dull, leaden -- (darkened with overcast; "a dark day"; "a dull sky"; "the sky was leaden and thick")
       => cloudy (vs. clear) -- (full of or covered with clouds; "cloudy skies")