drab 1 of 2

Definition of drabnext
as in boring
causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest the new city hall promises to be another drab pile of masonry for the town

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drab

2 of 2

noun

as in prostitute
a woman who engages in sexual activities for money in its time, this waterfront dive was decried as a den of iniquity, unfit even for the drunks and drabs who haunted it

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of drab
Adjective
The film takes place in a dreary town in Victoria, Australia, a drab industrial backwater whose people — or, at least some of whom — flock to religion to give their lives the brightness of hope and higher purpose. Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 24 Jan. 2026 But Kate Middleton proved that functional winter fashion doesn’t have to be so drab. Kaelin Dodge, InStyle, 20 Jan. 2026
Noun
The Midi Dress Midi dresses are the opposite of drab at the moment. Robyn Mowatt, Essence, 18 Mar. 2025 Early mammals were small, strictly nocturnal, and altogether less showy–verging on downright drab, as supported by a study published March 13 in the journal Science. Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 13 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for drab
Recent Examples of Synonyms for drab
Adjective
  • The boring lunch ends boringly, with the women sipping their champagne in silence, tucking into their salads, and ignoring the commemorative glasses that no one wanted.
    Brian Moylan, Vulture, 13 Feb. 2026
  • This sounds like a boring event but the boys turn the act of breaking up ice or sleet sheets from the sidewalk into a hockey-like competition.
    Caleb Harris, Austin American Statesman, 11 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • Many maintained contact with him even after his conviction in 2008 for soliciting a prostitute and procuring a child for prostitution in Florida.
    Kathryn Palmer, USA Today, 11 Feb. 2026
  • The mothers were usually poor women or prostitutes, the children generally given up for adoption to orphanages, many of them run by foreign missionaries.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • So is, arguably in softer garb, the trend of trigger warnings, which—mirroring the grim cancer label on a pack of cigarettes—dull the impact of a product or dissuade users entirely by advising them that its consumption may be hazardous to their health.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 Feb. 2026
  • These may just be the ordinary, dull rhythms of a relatively stable relationship, and yet these actors make the mundane so much more.
    ABC News, ABC News, 18 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • Well, yes, there were also hookers and tequila girls and whatever else was going on in those offices.
    Lacey Rose, HollywoodReporter, 17 Nov. 2025
  • Making the cut, however, is not enough for good ratings, and so the Network creates a fake new clickbait backstory for Richards, painting him as a deadbeat dad with a hooker for a wife.
    Damon Wise, Deadline, 11 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • It's been a cold, tiring week, but the light at the end of the tunnel that is a Saturday at Ikea picking out lamp shades is finally within sight.
    Joe Mutascio, IndyStar, 6 Feb. 2026
  • But studies have also shown that consuming caffeine before a mentally tiring task reduces the feeling of cognitive fatigue.
    Katharine Gammon, Time, 6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • This one, in a dusty olive green, has a high pile texture and subtle geometric design for the right amount of visual interest.
    Kate McGregor, Architectural Digest, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Mattresses and questionably clean bedding were dredged up, dusty couches cleared of detritus.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • That builds on similar trends throughout 2025, when the industry buoyed an otherwise slow labor market, as the nation’s hospitals, clinics and nursing homes kept hiring even as many employers pulled back.
    Abha Bhattarai, Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2026
  • Any type of realism was [limited to] very short clips, everything was very slow, bad textures, no skin textures, lacking detail.
    Arjun Kharpal, CNBC, 14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • The hospice is small and modest, run by a group of French nuns, built in 1827 as a respite for weary pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Feb. 2026
  • Kraft Heinz, like all big food companies, is also grappling with inflation-weary buyers cutting back spending or switching to generic labels as well as the rise of GLP-1 drugs hurting demand for snack food.
    Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Money, 11 Feb. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Drab.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drab. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.

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