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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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
Averi Baudler, People.com, 13 June 2025
Krasinski spends most of the 85-minute runtime in Roger’s drab, suburban living room (claustrophobically rendered by design collective Dots), clicking through photos and talking points like a rage-baiting snake-oil salesman.
—Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 13 June 2025
Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Jan. 2025
This will occur in drips and drabs.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 29 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for drab
Adjective
This 4-Piece Patio Set Is Under $220 at Amazon
Looking to take your backyard from drab to fab?
—Averi Baudler, People.com, 13 June 2025
Krasinski spends most of the 85-minute runtime in Roger’s drab, suburban living room (claustrophobically rendered by design collective Dots), clicking through photos and talking points like a rage-baiting snake-oil salesman.
—Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 13 June 2025
Noun
These varieties produce drab-looking but tasty fruiting bodies called truffles, which mammals like dogs or boars will find by smell—then dig up and eat.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Jan. 2025
This will occur in drips and drabs.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 29 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for drab
Recent Examples of Synonyms for drab
Adjective
-
This is worlds away from that boring deli chicken sandwich, while still being easy enough to whip up on the busiest of days.—
Kimberly Holland,
Southern Living,
28 June 2025
-
The contract’s scope of work includes the single bore tunnel, station entrances and exits, the excavation of underground stations and the procurement of a tunnel boring machine.—
Grace Hase,
Mercury News,
27 June 2025
Noun
-
At some point, Perkins reportedly introduced Millard to a Black prostitute but Millard wanted a White one instead, the news report said, citing warrants.—
Louis Casiano,
Fox News,
24 Mar. 2023
-
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, named after Shields’s controversial first film about a young girl who was a child prostitute, features interviews from her childhood friend and actress Laura Linney and Drew Barrymore and how to contrasted with Shields’s experience in the spotlight.—
Vulture,
Vulture,
22 Mar. 2023
Adjective
-
And what often emerges instead is a dull kind of numbness, chronic irritability or total withdrawal.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
-
Commercial or bulk matcha is often a dull yellowish or brown color, coarse in texture, and noticeably bitter.—
Devorah Lev-Tov,
Vogue,
20 June 2025
Noun
-
Strip clubs, booze, hookers, blow, the whole nine yards.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
31 Mar. 2025
-
Strip clubs, booze, hookers, blow, the whole nine yards.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Seeing that expansion and contraction over and over for six episodes (let alone three seasons) can grow tiring, and Season 3 certainly suffers from a sense of exhaustion.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
27 June 2025
-
Now in his 80s trips to the islands are more challenging, and maintaining a boat that can make the journey is expensive and tiring.—
Kathleen Rellihan,
Outside Online,
8 June 2025
Adjective
-
Just think about where your luggage has been; it gets hauled through airports, goes for a ride on a conveyor belt, rolls across dusty parking lots, is stashed into overhead bins, and is often handled by multiple people with no guarantee of clean hands.—
Mary Cornetta,
Better Homes & Gardens,
29 June 2025
-
He’s worn them outside on dusty furniture, has cat fur all over them ...—
Brian Anthony Hernandez,
People.com,
28 June 2025
Adjective
-
Juicy, tender ribs are hard to beat, and cooking them low and slow is the key to achieving that irresistible fall-off-the-bone texture and deep, savory flavor.—
Katie Rosenhouse,
Southern Living,
23 June 2025
-
And then there is a style that believes reading should mimic the obstruction and slow struggle of writing.—
Benjamin Hale
June 23,
Literary Hub,
23 June 2025
Adjective
-
After dark, there’s a Midnight Snack cart delivering warm, comfort-food bites to weary red-eye travelers (because New York never sleeps, and neither do airport people).—
Paul Rubio,
AFAR Media,
23 June 2025
-
But others may hear Xi Jinping’s call not as a rallying cry but as a weary echo of the past.—
JOSEPH TORIGIAN,
Foreign Affairs,
23 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Drab.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drab. Accessed 7 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share