Lighten vs Dull - What's the difference?
lighten | dull | Related terms |
To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.
To make light or lighter in weight.
To make less serious or more cheerful.
* Bible, Psalms xxxiv. 5
To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.
* Dryden
To become light or lighter in weight.
To become less serious or more cheerful.
To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.
To burst forth or dart, as lightning; to shine with, or like, lightning; to flash.
* Shakespeare
To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.
* Shakespeare
To descend; to light.
* Book of Common Prayer
To illuminate with knowledge; to enlighten.
* Sir J. Davies
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 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.
:
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
In transitive terms the difference between lighten and dull
is that lighten is to emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning while dull is to soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.In intransitive terms the difference between lighten and dull
is that lighten is to burst forth or dart, as lightning; to shine with, or like, lightning; to flash while dull is to lose a sharp edge; to become dull.As an adjective dull is
lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.lighten
English
Verb
(en verb)- They looked unto him, were lightened .
- to lighten''' an apartment with lamps or gas; to '''lighten the streets
- A key of fire ran all along the shore, / And lightened all the river with a blaze.
- This dreadful night, / That thunders, lightens , opens graves, and roars / As doth the lion.
- His eye lightens forth / Controlling majesty.
- O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us.
- Lighten my spirit with one clear heavenly ray.
Conjugation
(en-conj-simple)Derived terms
* lighten updull
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