different between dull vs deep

English

Alternative forms

• dul, dulle (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English dull, dul (also dyll, dill, dwal), from Old English dol (“dull, foolish, erring, heretical; foolish, silly; presumptuous”), from Proto-Germanic *dulaz, a variant of *dwalaz (“stunned, mad, foolish, misled”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?wel-, *d?ewel- (“to dim, dull, cloud, make obscure, swirl, whirl”). Cognate with Scots dull, doll (“slow to understand or hear, deaf, dull”), North Frisian dol (“rash, unthinking, giddy, flippant”), Dutch dol (“crazy, mad, insane”), Low German dul, dol (“mad, silly, stupid, fatuous”), German toll (“crazy, mad, wild, fantastic”), Danish dval (“foolish, absurd”), Icelandic dulur (“secretive, silent”), West-Flemish dul (angry, furious).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?l/
  • (Canada) IPA^(key): /d?l/, /d?l/, /d??/
• (US)
• Rhymes: -?l

Adjective

dull (comparative duller, superlative dullest)

1. Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

2. Boring; not exciting or interesting.

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

   a dull fire or lamp;? a dull red or yellow;? a dull mirror

   • 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.

4. Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.
5. Sluggish, listless.

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

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene

     O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.
6. Cloudy, overcast.

7. Insensible; unfeeling.

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

8. Heavy; lifeless; inert.
   • c. 1857', Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Table-Talk

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

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

   Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.

10. (of a noise or sound) Not clear, muffled.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:boring
• See also Thesaurus:stupid
• (not shiny): lackluster, matte

Antonyms

• bright
• intelligent
• sharp

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

dull (third-person singular simple present dulls, present participle dulling, simple past and past participle dulled)

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

   Years of misuse have dulled the tools.

   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     This […] dulled their swords.

2. (transitive) To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.

   He drinks to dull the pain.

   • 1850, Richard Chenevix Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord

     Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.

3. (intransitive) To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.

   A razor will dull with use.

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

Synonyms

• dullen

Translations

References

• dull in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• dull in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ULDL

Welsh

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dey?- (“to show, point out”).

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /d???/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /d??/

Noun

dull m (plural dulliau)

1. method

Mutation

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “dull”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

References

English

Etymology

From Middle English depe, deep, dep, deop, from Old English d?op (“deep, profound; awful, mysterious; heinous; serious, solemn, earnest; extreme, great”), from Proto-Germanic *deupaz (“deep”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?ewb?-nós, from *d?ewb- (“deep”). Cognate with Scots depe (“deep”), Saterland Frisian djoop (“deep”), West Frisian djip (“deep”), Low German deep (“deep”), Dutch diep (“deep”), German tief (“deep”), Danish dyb (“deep”), Norwegian Bokmål dyp (“deep”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish djup (“deep”), Icelandic djúpur (“deep”), Lithuanian dubùs (“deep, hollow”), Albanian det (“sea”), Welsh dwfn (“deep”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: d?p, IPA^(key): /di?p/
• Rhymes: -i?p

Adjective

deep (comparative deeper, superlative deepest)

1. (of a physical distance) Extending far away from a point of reference, especially downwards.
   1. Extending far down from the top or surface; having its bottom far down.
   2. Far in extent in another (non-downwards, but generally also non-upwards) direction away from a point of reference.

   3. In a (specified) number of rows or layers.

   4. Thick.
   5. Voluminous.

      • 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.

   6. A long way inside; situated far in or back.
      1. (cricket, baseball, softball) 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.

      2. (sports, soccer, tennis) A long way forward.

      3. (American football) Relatively farther downfield.
2. (intellectual, social) Complex, involved.
   1. Profound, having great meaning or import, but possibly obscure or not obvious.
   2. To a significant, not superficial, extent.
      • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, "London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):

        While Britain’s recession has been deep and unforgiving, in London it has been relatively shallow.

   3. Hard to penetrate or comprehend; profound; intricate; obscure.
      • c. 1840, 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.

   4. Of penetrating or far-reaching intellect; not superficial; thoroughly skilled; sagacious; cunning.
3. (sound, voice) Low in pitch.
4. (of a color) Highly saturated.
5. (sleep) Sound, heavy (describing a state of sleep from which one is not easily awoken).

6. Immersed, submerged (in).

7. Muddy; boggy; sandy; said of roads.

   • The ways in that vale were very deep.

8. (of time) Distant in the past, ancient.

Synonyms

• (of a hole, water, etc):
• (having great meaning): heavy, meaningful, profound
• (thick in a vertical direction): thick
• (voluminous): great, large, voluminous
• (low in pitch): low, low-pitched
• (of a color, dark and highly saturated): bright, rich, vivid
• (of sleep): fast, heavy

Antonyms

• (of a hole, water, etc): 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
• (of a color, dark and highly saturated): light, pale, desaturated, washed-out
• (of sleep): light

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• deep-frozen
• deep-level
• deepness
• deep state

Translations

See also

References

• Deep on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Adverb

deep (comparative more deep, superlative most deep)

1. Deeply.

Translations

Noun

deep (countable and uncountable, plural deeps)

1. (literary, with "the") The deep part of a lake, sea, etc.

   creatures of the deep

2. (literary, with "the") A silent time; quiet isolation.

   the deep of night

3. (rare) A deep shade of colour.
4. (US, rare) The profound part of a problem.
5. (with "the") The sea, the ocean.
6. (cricket) A fielding position near the boundary.

   Russell is a safe pair of hands in the deep.

Translations

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

• deeps

Anagrams

• Peed, peed

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• deef (northern Moselle Franconian; now predominant in Ripuarian)
• dief (southern Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

One of several Ripuarian relict words with an unshifted post-vocalic plosive. Compare Aap (“ape”), söke (“to seek”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de?p/

Adjective

deep (masculine deepe, feminine deep, comparativer deeper, superlative et deepste)

1. (Ripuarian, archaic in many dialects) deep

Middle English

Adjective

deep

1. Alternative form of depe

Adverb

deep

1. Alternative form of depe

Plautdietsch

Etymology

From Middle Low German diep, from Old Saxon diop.

Adjective

deep

1. deep, profound