drab

/dræb/

Thân thiện

The old house had drab, faded curtains hanging in every window.

Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Dull, lacking brightness or color: Describes something that is not bright or colorful, often appearing faded, grayish, or brownish.
   • Dreary, cheerless, boring: Describes something that is uninteresting, monotonous, or depressing, lacking in liveliness or excitement.

2. Noun:

   • A dull, light brownish or olive-gray color: The color itself.
   • A thick, durable cloth of a dull brownish color: A type of fabric.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • The walls were painted a drab gray, making the room feel smaller.
  • He lived a drab, routine existence, going to work and coming home with little variation.
  • The landscape was drab and barren after the long winter.

• Noun:

  • The artist used a palette of drabs and olives to capture the mood of the industrial city. (Referring to the color)
  • The soldiers' uniforms were made of coarse drab. (Referring to the fabric)

Advanced Usage

• "Drabness" (noun): The quality of being drab.
  • The drabness of the office was only broken by a single potted plant.

Variants and Related Words

• Drably (adverb): In a drab manner.
  • The room was drably decorated.
• Drabber, Drabbest (comparative and superlative forms of the adjective).

Synonyms

• Adjective: Dreary, dull, colorless, gray, monotonous, boring, somber, cheerless, lackluster.
• Noun: Khaki, olive drab (specific shades/colors).

Different Meanings

• The primary modern meanings relate to dull color and dullness of spirit or environment. The noun form referring to a type of fabric is now less common. Archaic or offensive slang meanings (e.g., a slovenly woman or a prostitute) are not in contemporary standard usage and should be avoided.

Idioms and Phrases

• While "drab" itself is not commonly the core of idioms, it is frequently used in descriptive phrases like "drab existence," "drab surroundings," or "drab clothing" to emphasize monotony and lack of vibrancy.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. causing dejection
   • a blue day
   • the dark days of the war
   • a week of rainy depressing weather
   • a disconsolate winter landscape
   • the first dismal dispiriting days of November
   • a dark gloomy day
   • grim rainy weather
2. of a light brownish green color
3. lacking brightness or color; dull
   • drab faded curtains
   • sober Puritan grey
   • children in somber brown clothes
4. lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise
   • her drab personality
   • life was drab compared with the more exciting life style overseas
   • a series of dreary dinner parties

Noun

1. a dull greyish to yellowish or light olive brown

Từ đồng nghĩa

• olive-drab
• sober
• somber
• sombre
• dreary
• olive drab