dulling
- 1Present participle and gerund of dull.
The endless gray winter was slowly dulling his enthusiasm for the project.
Dulling the knives by cutting on stone countertops is a common mistake.
Note
A form that swings between two constructions, because dull works both ways as a verb. With an object it is causative: rain dulling the paint, grief dulling the mind. Without one it describes a change happening on its own, as in a blade slowly dulling with use. The same split runs through every reach of the verb: blunting an edge, dimming a shine, tarnishing a surface, or making a person sluggish.
The old blade kept dulling no matter how often he sharpened it.
The knife is dulling faster than I expected.
dulling is a form of dull
dull, verb: To take the sharpness off a blade or edge; to blunt something that was sharp. Full entry
- Spelling
- dull → dulling: add -ing
Use it in a sentence
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