dullness
noun/ˈdʌl.nəs/
Etymology From dull + -ness.
7 senses
1
Usually The quality of being slow of understanding things.
2
Usually The quality of being uninteresting; boring; humorless or irksome.
- If to raise malicious smiles at the infirmities or misfortunes of those who have never injured us be the province of wit or Humour, Heaven grant me a double Portion of Dullness—1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, II.ii:
3
Usually Lack of interest or excitement.
4
Usually The lack of visual brilliance; want of sheen.
- dullness of autumn
5
Usually, Of an edge bluntness.
6
Usually The quality of not perceiving or kenning things distinctly.
- dullness of sight, or of hearing
7
Archaic, Usually Drowsiness.
- Prospero: […]Thou art inclin'd to sleep. 'Tis a good dulness, / And give it way— I know thou canst not choose.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]: