Damp vs Dull - What's the difference?

In transitive terms the difference between damp and dull

is that damp is to suppress vibrations (mechanical) or oscillations (electrical) by converting energy to heat (or some other form of energy) while dull is to soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.

As adjectives the difference between damp and dull

is that damp is being in a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist while dull is lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

As verbs the difference between damp and dull

is that damp is to dampen; to render damp; to moisten; to make humid, or moderately wet; as, to damp cloth while dull is to render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.

As a noun damp

is moisture; humidity; dampness.

As an abbreviation DAMP

is Deficits in Attention, Motor coordination and Perception.

damp

English

Adjective

(er)

Being in a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist.

:* O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear -

The lawn was still damp so we decided not to sit down.

The paint is still damp , so please don't touch it.

(obsolete) Pertaining to or affected by noxious vapours; dejected, stupified.

* 1667 , John Milton, Paradise Lost , Book 1, ll. 522-3:

All these and more came flocking; but with looks / Down cast and damp .

Synonyms

* (l) * (l)/(l)

Derived terms

* dampen * dampness

Noun

Moisture; humidity; dampness.

(archaic) Fog; fogginess; vapor.

* Milton

Night with black air / Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom.

(archaic) Dejection or depression.

* Joseph Addison

Even now, while thus I stand blest in thy presence, / A secret damp of grief comes o'er my soul.

* J. D. Forbes

It must have thrown a damp over your autumn excursion.

(archaic, or, historical, mining) A gaseous product, formed in coal mines, old wells, pits, etc.

Derived terms

* afterdamp * blackdamp * chokedamp * damp sheet * firedamp * stinkdamp * whitedamp

Verb

(en verb)

(archaic) To dampen; to render damp; to moisten; to make humid, or moderately wet; as, to damp cloth.

(archaic) To put out, as fire; to depress or deject; to deaden; to cloud; to check or restrain, as action or vigor; to make dull; to weaken; to discourage.

To suppress vibrations (mechanical) or oscillations (electrical) by converting energy to heat (or some other form of energy).

:* To damp your tender hopes -

:* Usury dulls and damps all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring if it were not for this slug -

:* How many a day has been damped and darkened by an angry word! -

:* The failure of his enterprise damped the spirit of the soldiers. -

:* Hollow rollers damp vibration. - [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3238/is_200004/ai_n7935204]

Anagrams

* ----

dull

English

Alternative forms

* dul, dulle

Adjective

(er)

Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

Boring; not exciting or interesting.

Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.

:a dull''' fire or lamp; a '''dull''' red or yellow; mirror

*(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) (1807-1882)

*:As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.

*

*: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. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.

Not bright or intelligent; stupid; slow of understanding.

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:She is not bred so dull but she can learn.

*(William Makepeace Thackeray) (1811-1863)

*:dull at classical learning

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=15 citation , passage=She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’}}
Sluggish, listless.

*(Bible), (w) xiii. 15

*:This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.

*(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)

*:O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.

*, chapter=7
, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. 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.}}
Cloudy, overcast.

:

Insensible; unfeeling.

*(Beaumont and Fletcher) (1603-1625)

*:Think me not / So dull a devil to forget the loss / Of such a matchless wife.

Heavy; lifeless; inert.

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:the dull earth

*(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) (1807-1882)

*:As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.

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

Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.

Synonyms

* See also * See also * (not shiny) lackluster, matte

Antonyms

* bright * intelligent * sharp

Verb

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

Years of misuse have dulled the tools.

* Francis Bacon

This dulled their swords.

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

He drinks to dull the pain.

* Shakespeare

Those [drugs] she has / Will stupefy and dull the sense a while.

* Trench

Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.

To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.

A razor will dull with use.

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

* Francis Bacon

dulls the mirror

External links

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