different between tranquil vs dull

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French tranquille, from Latin tranquillus.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?t?æ?.kw?l/

Adjective

tranquil (comparative tranquiler, superlative tranquilest)

1. Free from emotional or mental disturbance.
   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, chapter XXVIII

     Some time passed before I felt tranquil even here: I had a vague dread that wild cattle might be near, or that some sportsman or poacher might discover me.

2. Calm; without motion or sound.

Synonyms

• (free from emotional disturbance): calm, peaceful, serene, steady
• (calm; without motion or sound): peaceful

Antonyms

• (free from emotional disturbance): agitated

Related terms

• tranquillity
• tranquillize
• tranquilly
• tranquilness

Translations

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin tranquillus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /t????kil/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /t?a??kil/
• Rhymes: -il

Adjective

tranquil (feminine tranquil·la, masculine plural tranquils, feminine plural tranquil·les)

1. tranquil, calm (free from emotional disturbance)
2. tranquil, calm (without motion or sound)

   Synonym: calm

   Antonym: agitat

Derived terms

• tranquil·lament
• tranquil·litzar

Related terms

• tranquil·litat

Further reading

• “tranquil” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “tranquil” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “tranquil” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “tranquil” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tran?kwil/

Adjective

tranquil

1. tranquil

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