Dull vs Deep - What's the difference?
dull | deep | Related terms |
Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.
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Boring; not exciting or interesting.
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Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.
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: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.
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*: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 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= Cloudy, overcast.
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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.
To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.
* Francis Bacon
To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.
* Shakespeare
* Trench
To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.
To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
* Francis Bacon
Extending far away from a point of reference, especially downwards.
#Extending far down from the top or surface; having its bottom far down.
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#*1591 , (William Shakespeare), Henry VI, Part 2 :
#*:Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.
#Far in extent in another (non-downwards, but generally also non-upwards) direction away from a point of reference.
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#In a (specified) number of rows or layers.
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#Thick.
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#*, chapter=5
, title= #Voluminous.
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#*
#*:Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
#A long way inside; situated far in or back.
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## Far from the center of the playing area, near to the boundary of the playing area, either in absolute terms or relative to a point of reference.
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## A long way forward.
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##(label) Relatively farther downfield.
Complex, involved.
#Profound, having great meaning or import, but possibly obscure or not obvious.
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#To a significant, not superficial, extent.
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#*2013 September 28, (Kenan Malik), "
#*:While Britain’s recession has been deep and unforgiving, in London it has been relatively shallow.
#Hard to penetrate or comprehend; profound; intricate; obscure.
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#* (Thomas De Quincey):
#*:Why it was that the ancients had no landscape painting, is a question deep almost as the mystery of life, and harder of solution than all the problems of jurisprudence combined.
#Of penetrating or far-reaching intellect; not superficial; thoroughly skilled; sagacious; cunning.
#*(rfdate), (William Shakespeare):
#*:deep clerks
Low in pitch.
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*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
, chapter=5, title= (lb) Dark and highly saturated.
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*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8
, passage=The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet:
(lb) Sound, heavy (describing a state of sleep from which one is not easily awoken ).
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Immersed, submerged (in).
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Muddy; boggy; sandy; said of roads.
*(rfdate), :
*:The ways in that vale were very deep .
Deeply.
* Milton:
* Alexander Pope:
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The deep part of a lake, sea, etc.
(US, rare) The profound part of a problem.
The sea, the ocean.
(cricket) A fielding position near the boundary.
As adjectives the difference between dull and deep
is that dull is lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp while deep is Extending far away from a point of reference, especially downwards.As a verb dull
is to render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.As an adverb deep is
deeply.As a noun deep is
the deep part of a lake, sea, etc.dull
English
Alternative forms
* dul, dulleAdjective
(er)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?’}}
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.}}
- Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.
Synonyms
* See also * See also * (not shiny) lackluster, matteAntonyms
* bright * intelligent * sharpVerb
(en verb)- Years of misuse have dulled the tools.
- This dulled their swords.
- He drinks to dull the pain.
- Those [drugs] she has / Will stupefy and dull the sense a while.
- Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.
- A razor will dull with use.
- dulls the mirror
External links
* *deep
English
Adjective
(er)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.}}
London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
A Cuckoo in the Nest, passage=The departure was not unduly prolonged.
Synonyms
* * (having great meaning) heavy, meaningful, profound * (in extent in a direction away from the observer) * (thick in a vertical direction) thick * (voluminous) great, large, voluminous * (low in pitch) low, low-pitched * bright, rich, vividAntonyms
* shallow * (having great meaning) frivolous, light, shallow, superficial * (in extent in a direction away from the observer) shallow * (thick in a vertical direction) shallow, thin * (voluminous) shallow, small * (low in pitch) high, high-pitched, piping * light, pale, desaturated, washed-outSee also
* tall * wide * high * thickAdverb
(en adverb)- Deep -versed in books, and shallow in himself.
- Drink deep , or taste not the Pierian spring.
- Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
Noun
- creatures of the deep
- Russell is a safe pair of hands in the deep .
