1
as in reducing
to reduce or weaken in strength or feeling
the aspirin dulled his headache and he was soon feeling better
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in bleaching
to make white or lighter by removing color
the painting's once-vivid colors have been dulled by time
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in deadening
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dulling
Jamie Carter, Space.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Soaring temperatures and drought also sends trees into stress, dulling the experience of fall foliage.
—Emilee Coblentz, Outside, 2 Sep. 2025
Many parents struggle with how to support adult children without dulling their drive or setting unrealistic expectations.
—Bob Sponseller, The Enquirer, 26 Aug. 2025
While opioids primarily work by dulling sensations in the brain, the new drug, in fifty milligram oral tablets, is reported to reduce pain by targeting a pain-signaling pathway involving a specific sodium channel in the peripheral nervous system, before the pain signals reach the brain.
—Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Money, 26 Aug. 2025
Astaxanthin protects skin against dulling environmental aggressors but it’s also packed with various antioxidant vitamins (C and E), highly moisturizing squalane, redness-reducing centella asiatica, exfoliating lactic acid and CoQ10, another antioxidant with powerful protective properties.
—Jacqueline Kilikita, Refinery29, 17 Oct. 2024
Adjective
In parts of Southeast Asia, totality will begin as the full moon rises, dulling the effect.
—Jamie Carter, Space.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Soaring temperatures and drought also sends trees into stress, dulling the experience of fall foliage.
—Emilee Coblentz, Outside, 2 Sep. 2025
Many parents struggle with how to support adult children without dulling their drive or setting unrealistic expectations.
—Bob Sponseller, The Enquirer, 26 Aug. 2025
While opioids primarily work by dulling sensations in the brain, the new drug, in fifty milligram oral tablets, is reported to reduce pain by targeting a pain-signaling pathway involving a specific sodium channel in the peripheral nervous system, before the pain signals reach the brain.
—Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Money, 26 Aug. 2025
Astaxanthin protects skin against dulling environmental aggressors but it’s also packed with various antioxidant vitamins (C and E), highly moisturizing squalane, redness-reducing centella asiatica, exfoliating lactic acid and CoQ10, another antioxidant with powerful protective properties.
—Jacqueline Kilikita, Refinery29, 17 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dulling
Verb
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The confirmation came just two days before the Fed is expected to vote on reducing its key interest rate.—
Adeola Adeosun
Robert Birsel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
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Every action counts, whether reducing HFCs, investing in sustainable cooling, or holding governments accountable for climate commitments.—
Dianne Plummer,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
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For example, coral reefs are bleaching more often and dying due to ocean warming and acidification, undermining fisheries, marine biodiversity and economic sectors such as tourism.—
Lauren Gifford,
Space.com,
25 Aug. 2025
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The pic also showed off Jennifer Aniston’s money piece highlights, the face-framing way to give yourself a bit of a blonde glow without bleaching your whole head, sort of the way a ring light illuminates you from the front.—
Elizabeth Logan,
Glamour,
19 Aug. 2025
Verb
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But many are now finding that geopolitics is blunting their ambitions.—
Joyce Jiang,
CNN Money,
13 Sep. 2025
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Other times, long rates resist or even rise, flattening the curve and blunting the Fed’s impact.—
Robert Daugherty,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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But with its novelty fading and political scrutiny mounting, its long-term future in America is far from secure.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Sep. 2025
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The sturdy plastic housings resist fading and cracking and are brown in color to blend with most outdoor surfaces.—
Miles Walls,
Better Homes & Gardens,
15 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Some critics and documentary filmmakers say that mandate is reductive and numbing.—
Michael Powell,
New York Times,
25 Sep. 2022
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Aside from being scientifically fascinating, the special effect of these peppercorns is also a key component of Sichuan cuisine’s greatest gift to the culinary world, a numbing and spicy flavor profile known as málà.—
Chala Tyson Tshitundu,
Bon Appétit,
29 Sep. 2021
Verb
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Scrolling on one’s phone can be a deadening experience, but here’s someone feeling, or at least pretending to feel, a genuine feeling—even if the abundance of these videos surely numbs us further.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
15 Sep. 2025
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Horror of this scale has the effect of deadening words, making stories of the most unimaginable violence land with a dull thud.—
Jack Sheehan
September 4,
Literary Hub,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Several bright craters are visible brightening the dark lunar maria that cover swathes of the lunar surface, with impact ejecta streaking outward from some of the younger sites.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
7 Sep. 2025
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Support her post-grad skin with brightening serums, refillable lipsticks, and edge-control that actually holds during interviews and celebrations.—
Larry Stansbury,
Essence,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Schultz also slow-walked the trial use of the fast-acting anesthetic ketamine by paramedics, who were able to administer only four doses in six months under his stewardship.—
Tony Saavedra,
Oc Register,
4 Sep. 2025
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Dental surgeon William Thomas Green Morton saw the case as the perfect opportunity to test his anesthetic breathing apparatus in the hospital’s amphitheater.—
RJ Mackenzie,
Popular Science,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dulling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dulling. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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