What's the difference between dull and mull?

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.

Mull


Definition:

  • (n.) A thin, soft kind of muslin.
  • (n.) A promontory; as, the Mull of Cantyre.
  • (n.) A snuffbox made of the small end of a horn.
  • (n.) Dirt; rubbish.
  • (v. t.) To powder; to pulverize.
  • (v. i.) To work (over) mentally; to cogitate; to ruminate; -- usually with over; as, to mull over a thought or a problem.
  • (n.) An inferior kind of madder prepared from the smaller roots or the peelings and refuse of the larger.
  • (v. t.) To heat, sweeten, and enrich with spices; as, to mull wine.
  • (v. t.) To dispirit or deaden; to dull or blunt.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The quantum leap in integration being mulled will not save Greece, rescue Spain's banks, sort out Italy, or fix the euro crisis in the short term.
  • (2) If we managed to import a German royal family, why is it not possible for us to also import the German housing system – slowly, bit by bit, along with their Christmas trees and mulled wine?
  • (3) Najam Sethi, editor of the weekly Friday Times, said: "The powers that be, that is the military and bureaucratic establishment, are mulling the formation of a national government, with or without the PPP [the ruling Pakistan People's party].
  • (4) Waizenhoffer and Mulling (1978) compared arterial and venous blood gases, but only drew a limited number of arterial samples at 12 and 24 hours.
  • (5) Many parents think hard about what kind of books to buy for their children; mull over the suitability of various TV shows and films; and compare the educational and entertainment value of different toys.
  • (6) Mercury vapor levels associated with grinding amalgam models and mulling amalgams in the palm of the hand following trituration have been measured in a dental laboratory in inhalation position.
  • (7) "The same is true every time we start mulling the prospect of attacking and bombing another country as though it's some abstract decision in a video game."
  • (8) While the Bank's monetary policy committee was forced to sit on its hands, counterparts on the European Central Bank were mulling whether to slash rates from 1.25%.
  • (9) I have tried them but don’t know what to do with them.” What matters is creating an environment that convinces, that allows the chemistry to be right: “Creating a world that feels as if they have been together for decades, choosing books for their shelves, deciding which mugs they are going to have, what their daily routine is.” In lieu of rehearsals, he spent three days in Paris with Rampling, mulling over her character.
  • (10) After leaving university, Gibbard mulled over the problem for a while and decided to try to solve it using a 3D printer, technology which by then becoming more affordable.
  • (11) Óscar García has offered his resignation following Brighton & Hove Albion's defeat in their play-off semi-final against Derby County , with the Spaniard likely to leave this week, despite being given time to mull over his decision.
  • (12) Police sources say the Cheshire chief constable, Simon Byrne, who has senior-level experience in the Met, is also mulling a bid.
  • (13) McCluskey is thought to be mulling over whether to stand again as general secretary in internal elections in 2018.
  • (14) "Obviously there was some difficult stuff for her to mull over in terms of the abuse, but she felt that I'd balanced it – which was my main concern – with the kind of pathos he had about him.
  • (15) The winning recipe: Mulled apple juice with camomile Photograph: afdhsofisa for the Guardian Mulled apple juice is basically all the spices of mulled wine added to apple juice instead.
  • (16) The Guardian understands that May’s team was still mulling over the issue as recently as Thursday evening, when senior figures said no decision had been taken.
  • (17) Looking back now I would have started out with far less optimism had I known how many hours I would spend in airless rooms, how many animated discussions, how many sleepless nights mulling over the pros and cons of settling the case.
  • (18) The move to create a new regulator has become becalmed as both press and government mull over the unsatisfactory and botched detail of the royal charter which is intended to enshrine its governance and independence.
  • (19) Mexicans mull response to Trump's wall: let migrants through – or boycott McDonald's?
  • (20) Whatever the outcome in 2015, the disaffected, idealistic young graduates currently mulling a Green vote will be restlessly looking for change, and will continue to pose questions for Labour well after 7 May 2015 Robert Ford is senior lecturer in politics at the University of Manchester