What's the difference between dampen and dull?

Dampen


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To make damp or moist; to make slightly wet.
  • (v. t.) To depress; to check; to make dull; to lessen.
  • (v. i.) To become damp; to deaden.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Toxic effects of glucocorticoids on bone contribute to the pathogenesis of osteonecrosis, increase the risk for fractures by decreasing cancellous bone mass and synthesis of bone matrix, and dampen the linear growth response in pediatric recipients.
  • (2) These findings indicate that sympathetic-adrenal medullary responses are dampened considerably in animals exposed to a highly predictable regimen of chronic intermittent stress.
  • (3) 11.12am BST Here's my colleague Angela Monaghan 's news story on the manufacturing data: Heavy rainfall failed to dampen Britain's manufacturing sector in February with output growing much more strongly than expected, boosting the outlook for the wider economy.
  • (4) Since prosthetic meniscal replacement may be performed in the setting of normal articular cartilage, a prosthesis will be required to match the exact joint configuration, induce the same lubricity, produce the same coefficient of friction, and absorb and dampen the same joint forces (without incurring significant creep or abrasion) as does the normal meniscus.
  • (5) The subcupular meshwork may play an important role in transmitting the shear strain of the otolithic membrane to all the ciliary bundles and may also exert an additional dampening effect to prevent unwanted vibration.
  • (6) MPC member Andrew Sentance has argued the bank risks stoking inflationary pressures if it adopts a looser monetary policy and should increase interest rates to dampen demand.
  • (7) In addition, there is evidence that both receptor-operated Ca2+ and potential-operated Ca2+ channels may be impaired because the responses to norepinephrine and KCl are both dampened in diabetic aortae.
  • (8) The reduced phacoemulsification incision size in combination with a scleral pocket closed with a continuous single knotted 10-0 monofilament nylon suture under tonometric and keratometric control significantly dampens the changes in corneal astigmatism during the early and late postoperative periods.
  • (9) This dampened response to ethanol for men at high future risk for alcoholism was not observed after challenges with two different doses of diazepam.
  • (10) In the Purkinje cell bodies, however, the metabolic stress was dampened; glucose concentrations decreased, but the levels of ATP were maintained and, to a lesser extent, those of P-creatine.
  • (11) In this series, the association MCA curve dampened and PTI lower than 0.90 is the evidence of a more than 90% stenosis, except in 2 atheromatous and symptomatic occlusions.
  • (12) Although growth-retarding cell to cell interactions are also clearly operative in growing FRTL-5 cells, they are less effective than those dampening the replication rate of the thyrocytes within the monolayer hull of normal follicles.
  • (13) It said that a widening of interest rate spreads could add to the cost of new borrowing, acting to dampen demand.
  • (14) Prior exposure to PGE1 minimally inhibited airway responses but when given simultaneously with antigen, it either selectively inhibited some or dampened all pulmonary function abnormalities.
  • (15) There appeared to be a concerted attempt by both countries on Sunday to dampen down any controversy and return to business as usual.
  • (16) But she is nervous and what she is doing is dampening speculation to make the task less stressful.
  • (17) Phenobarbital by inhibiting PIP-kinase may reduce the membrane concentration of PIP2 and thus dampen the stimulus-response which leads to the hydrolysis of PIP2 and the formation of the second messenger, inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3), involved in mobilization of intracellular Ca2+.
  • (18) Alcohol's Stress-Response-Dampening (SRD) effect has been the subject of much research, but little has been done to examine the effects of drinking alcohol after experiencing a stressor (Stress-Response-Recovery; SRR).
  • (19) Eosinophils have also been involved in the process of the replenishment of mediators by dampening the synthesis of mediators in mast cells.
  • (20) Failure to respond to influenza vaccination correlated with a decreased number and percentage of IgD-bearing PBL and a dampened lymphocyte response to PWM in a subset of healthy aged volunteers.

Dull


Definition:

  • (superl.) Slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish.
  • (superl.) Slow in action; sluggish; unready; awkward.
  • (superl.) Insensible; unfeeling.
  • (superl.) Not keen in edge or point; lacking sharpness; blunt.
  • (superl.) Not bright or clear to the eye; wanting in liveliness of color or luster; not vivid; obscure; dim; as, a dull fire or lamp; a dull red or yellow; a dull mirror.
  • (superl.) Heavy; gross; cloggy; insensible; spiritless; lifeless; inert.
  • (superl.) Furnishing little delight, spirit, or variety; uninteresting; tedious; cheerless; gloomy; melancholy; depressing; as, a dull story or sermon; a dull occupation or period; hence, cloudy; overcast; as, a dull day.
  • (v. t.) To deprive of sharpness of edge or point.
  • (v. t.) To make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy, as the senses, the feelings, the perceptions, and the like.
  • (v. t.) To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
  • (v. t.) To deprive of liveliness or activity; to render heavy; to make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden.
  • (v. i.) To become dull or stupid.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "Maybe dullness is associated with psychic pain," Wallace wrote at one point, "because something that's dull or opaque fails to provide enough stimulation to distract people from some other, deeper type of pain that is always there, if only in an ambient low-level way, and which most of us spend nearly all our time and energy trying to distract ourselves from."
  • (2) Similar systems were put in place at Dulles outside Washington DC, Newark and Chicago airports on Thursday.
  • (3) The soft, dull, malacic appearance of the center results from lack of a true surface layer of tangential collagen fibers.
  • (4) Here I am in Los Angeles being paid $30,000 to do next to nothing and still I'm finding life rather dull.
  • (5) A significant proportion of splenic B cells reacted with these mAb, although lower number (one-log less) than peritoneal B cells and a small proportion of H7dull+ splenic B cells seems to be Ly-1(CD5)dull+, 1 of 200 splenic B cells responded to IL-5 for IgM production.
  • (6) A 58-year-old man complained of dull left lower quadrant pain and constipation.
  • (7) They will begin next week at Liberty airport in Newark, New Jersey; Dulles, outside Washington DC; Chicago O’Hare, and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.
  • (8) At both observations, crowns were rated on 5-point Likert scales for outline form, porosity, smoothness, reflectance, texture, dullness, defects, and general esthetic appearances.
  • (9) On the other hand AMH2 showed the dull-positive reaction with some monocytes and pleural exudate cells among above-mentioned cells.
  • (10) Britain’s Got Talent review – Simon Cowell is looking like Caligula after a dull day at the Coliseum Read more The show, won last year by boy band Collabro, began eight years ago with 4.9 million viewers, rising to 8.8 million for its second series launch before hitting the 10 million mark for the first time in 2009 with 10.3 million.
  • (11) Disseminated annular psoriasiform lesions developed over a period of 2 months in a 48-year-old man with no preceding psoriatic history of drug intake, being accompanied by general dullness and arthralgia.
  • (12) 3) At the severe stage, pain and dullness at the back, numbness at arms and hands, hand coldness, sleep disturbance etc.
  • (13) One month after surgery, she complained of swelling and a dull pain in the right leg without cardiorespiratory symptoms.
  • (14) Black-hair follicular dysplasia in dogs of mixed breeding was delineated by hypotrichosis and dullness of most black regions of the coat.
  • (15) Endoscopic examination disclosed an almost roundish, smooth-surfaced, flat and dull red area corresponding to IIc (slightly depressed type).
  • (16) Their surface phenotype was Thy-1+(dull), Ly-1.2+(dull), Lyt-2-, L3T4-, 9F3+, and 3A1+, which is consistent with that found in intact lpr mice.
  • (17) The engines, gearboxes and even the doors now have a complexity that sees them constructed elsewhere, but the transformation on this line of the dull sheen of aluminium parts into a moving vehicle at the other end is still something to behold.
  • (18) Flow cytometry showed three types of trophozoite staining by mAb: (i) bright staining of greater than 90% of trophozoites, with aggregation of the organisms; (ii) bright staining of approximately 90% of trophozoites, with little or no aggregation; (iii) dull staining of approximately 20% of trophozoites, without aggregation.
  • (19) The percentage of dull CD8+CD11b+ cells (natural killer cells) among TG-2 cells was lower than that in peripheral blood, but there was no significant difference in bright CD8+CD11b+ cells (suppressor-effector T cells) between thyroid glands and peripheral blood.
  • (20) It was filed in my mind as a pretty but dull destination, full of pensioners on package deals and cruises.

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