drab
part of speech
adjective (drab, drabber, drabbest); noun (drab, uncountable — a dull brownish colour, rare)
meaning for a pupil
1) Dull and boring, with no bright colours or interest. tree →
2) Grey or brownish in colour. tree →
3) (of life or a place) Without fun or excitement. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories, drab clothes, rooms or towns create a sad or boring mood; in science, some female birds are drab so they can hide on the nest; phrases: «drab and grey», «a drab little room», «drab colours».
examples
- The classroom looked drab until we put up our paintings. tree →
- The female duck is drab brown, but the male is bright green. tree →
- She wore a drab grey coat. tree →
- The town looked drab in the winter rain. tree →
- Our new wallpaper turned a drab room into a happy one. tree →
- He wanted to escape his drab, boring life. tree →
- Drab feathers help birds hide from foxes. tree →
- She now came to a space of marshy ground in the wood, where large, fat water-snakes were rolling in the mire, and showing their ugly, drab-colored bodies. tree →
note
Comparatives: drabber, drabbest (double b). Opposite: bright, colourful, cheerful. Noun: drabness.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «drab» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.