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Mellow vs Dull - What's the difference?

mellow | dull |

In transitive terms the difference between mellow and dull

is that mellow is to make mellow; to relax or soften while dull is to soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.

In intransitive terms the difference between mellow and dull

is that mellow is to become mellow while dull is to lose a sharp edge; to become dull.

As a noun mellow

is a relaxed mood.

mellow

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.
    • a mellow apple
  • Easily worked or penetrated; not hard or rigid.
    • a mellow soil
  • * Drayton
    • flowers of rank and mellow glebe
  • Not coarse, rough, or harsh; subdued, soft, rich, delicate; said of sound, color, flavor, style, etc.
  • * Wordsworth
    • the mellow horn
  • * Thomson
    • the mellow -tasted Burgundy
  • * Percival
    • The tender flush whose mellow stain imbues / Heaven with all freaks of light.
  • Well matured; softened by years; genial; jovial.
  • * Wordsworth
    • May health return to mellow age.
  • * Washington Irving
    • as merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed a hound
  • Relaxed; calm; easygoing; laid-back.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
    • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=3 citation , passage=Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.}}
  • Warmed by liquor, slightly intoxicated; or, stoned, high.
    • (Addison)

    Derived terms

    * mellowness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A relaxed mood.
  • *
  • *

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make mellow; to relax or soften.
    • (Shakespeare)
  • * J. C. Shairp
    • The fervour of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age.
  • To become .

    • Derived terms

    * harshing my mellow (harsh one's mellow) * mellow out

    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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