Drab vs Unattractive - What's the difference?
drab | unattractive | Related terms |
Dull, uninteresting, particularly of colour.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=November 3
, author=David Ornstein
, title=Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke
, work=BBC Sport
A fabric, usually of thick wool or cotton, having a drab colour.
The colour of this fabric; a dun, dull grey, or or dull brownish yellow.
A wooden box, used in saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.
(dated) A dirty or untidy woman; a slattern.
*
* 1956 , (John Creasey), Gideon's Week :
(dated) A promiscuous woman, a slut; a prostitute.
* 1957 , (Frank Swinnerton), The Woman from Sicily :
A box used in a saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.
(obsolete) To consort with prostitutes.
*
*
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Not handsome or beautiful or appealing.
Lacking the power to attract interest.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-06, volume=408, issue=8843, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
, title=
As adjectives the difference between drab and unattractive
is that drab is dull, uninteresting, particularly of colour while unattractive is not handsome or beautiful or appealing.As a noun drab
is a fabric, usually of thick wool or cotton, having a drab colour.As a verb drab
is to consort with prostitutes.drab
English
Etymology 1
(etyl), meaning "color of undyed cloth", from (etyl) ).Xavier Delamarre, ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental , s.v. "drappo" (Paris: Errance, 2001).Adjective
(drabber)citation, page= , passage=In a drab first half, Ryan Shotton's drive was deflected on to a post and Jon Walters twice went close.}}
Noun
(en noun)Quotations
* (English Citations of "drab")Synonyms
* (fabric) (l)Derived terms
* (l)Etymology 2
Origin uncertain; probably compare Irish drabog, Gaelic .Noun
(en noun)- Old provincial society had [...] its brilliant young professional dandies who ended by living up an entry with a drab and six children for their establishment [...].
- The doss house emptied during the day; from ten o'clock until five or six in the evening, there was no one there except Mulliver, a drab who did some of the cleaning for him, and occasional visitors.
- Ineffable sarcasm underlined the word 'bride', suggesting that Mrs Mudge must be a drab who had married for respectability.
- (Shakespeare)
Synonyms
* (slut) See * (prostitute) SeeVerb
(drabb)Anagrams
*References
unattractive
English
Adjective
(en adjective)The rise of smart beta, passage=Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive . Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.}}