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drab

[drab]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

dull; cheerless; lacking in spirit, brightness, etc.

having the color drab.

noun

dull gray; dull brownish or yellowish gray.

any of several fabrics of this color, especially of thick wool or cotton.

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Drab is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

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Origin:
1535–45; < Middle French drap < Late Latin drappus piece of cloth

Related forms

drab·ly, adverb

drab·ness, noun

Example Sentences

Revolutionary slogans are strung across drab office buildings and apartments.

In winter, the current gray is so drab and lonely-looking.

In the nowhere of the web, online shopping takes care of drab repeat purchases and bulk-buying.

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Revolutionary slogans are strung across drab office buildings and apartments.

In winter, the current gray is so drab and lonely-looking.

In the nowhere of the web, online shopping takes care of drab repeat purchases and bulk-buying.

Paleontologists are used to drab brown and gray fossils.

Regardless, the first critic lost all credibility when he called my clothes drab.

The puppets were generally drab colored and awkward.

Turn a drab thrift-store chair into a stylish accent for any room in your home.

The iMac would sound the death-knell for the drab get-up sported by old computers, they said.

The notice hangs on a drab wall in a remote clinic here, a symbol of this country's bold aspirations.

Females are a drab yellow-green with white wing bars.

He spruced up drab restaurants, improved the menu and introduced visitor days.

The city's murals can enliven an otherwise drab location.

The world would be incredibly dull, drab and lonely without them.

We've seen enough drab office decor and cubicles to think they make for a more successful company.

The brilliant orange-red bark of the madrone stands out amongst the relatively drab sandstone cliffs and other green plants.

After a while, there is a dispiritingly drab sameness about their stories.

By morning, the translucent color was gone and they were quite drab.

Up top there's a drab building and a jury-rigged helicopter landing pad.

Tyler's endeavor would add a bit of activity and creativity to the drab scene.

The light continuously changed, painting the mosques and the clay-tiled roofs in shades ranging from drab to glorious.

Dimitrelos works in a windowless office with beige walls and drab furniture.

Distilled beverages hints at cold drab winters, melancholia and risks of alcoholism.

Peahens are more drab than their male counterparts, with mostly brown on their back with a white belly.

When filled with human beings and racks of clothing, the places are pretty drab and messy.

Drab branches are slowly being tarted up, renamed consulting centres.

The shelter fabric is a drab beige vinyl, and the sides of the tents roll up to let in a night breeze.

I'd expect something that hush-hush to be on the drab side.

Artistic and cultural gems hide amid the drab urban jungle.

But it stands out even more than usual amid the drab communist-era.

Bright reds and yellows often mean ripe, delicious fruit, whereas drab yellowish-greens and browns signal.

Unlike drab way-station motels on the outskirts of.

We loved the lines of this mid-century style chair, but the drab upholstery and uneven varnish weren't cutting.

The drab brick buildings and the disrepair evident everywhere are the first signals.

In the world's temperate zones, where drab plumage is the.

It is one of the quickest ways to brighten a drab kitchen.

Your basics sound excellent and the advice is good except how drab all the black sounds.

The drab reality of the immediate post-Communist era quickly dashed the great expectations that had arisen.

In between those high points, however, the film's excellent cast members turn in proficient but drab performances.

But the tale is presented in a drab and confusing fashion by film makers with only the faintest command of their craft.

Just a light touch of electronic flash can add a sparkle to a person's eye or pump up the color in a drab scene.

Environments are rendered in drab pale grays and greens.

They have bought four rather drab town houses and have begun to gut and.

In this pygmalionesque musical, a drab secretary leads a boring life until a good friend intervenes.

That's the kind of message that follows you, even into the drab halls of adulthood.

But in the last few years the area has shed its drab industrial look for a more polished appearance.

Paul is an actor leading a drab directionless existence.

Some of it is standard conditioning in the drab smelly gym.

Drab foundations departments are being transformed into stylish boutiques.

Drab wallpaper, dark wood floors and an acoustical tile ceiling add up to dreariness.

Holmes said, the first thing a homeowner with drab floors should do is determine whether the floor truly needs to be refinished.

Weeks or years later, when they are sitting at their drab office desk or wandering listlessly about the.

It attracted little attention, but its serialization financially helped ease her drab existence.

Today, though, there is cause for hope as the aquarium has added new exhibits and animals and spruced up its drab appearance.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

a dirty, untidy woman; slattern.

a prostitute.

verb (used without object)

to associate with drabs.

Origin:
1505–15; perhaps akin to Dutch drab dregs, lees, obsolete Dutch drablen to run or tramp about; compare drabble, draff

Link To drab

Collins

World English Dictionary

drab¹ (dræb)

—*adj* , drabber, drabbest
1.	dull; dingy; shabby
2.	cheerless; dreary: a drab evening
3.	of the colour drab

—n
4.	a light olive-brown colour
5.	a fabric of a dull grey or brown colour

[C16: from Old French drap cloth, from Late Latin drappus, perhaps of Celtic origin]

'drably¹

—*adv*

'drabness¹

—n

drab² (dræb)

—n
1.	a slatternly woman
2.	a whore

—vb , drabs, drabbing, drabbed
3.	(intr) to consort with prostitutes

[C16: of Celtic origin; compare Scottish Gaelic drabag]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

drab

1686, "color of natural, undyed cloth," from M.Fr. drap (see drape). Figurative sense is c.1880. Apparently not related to earlier word meaning "a dirty, untidy woman" (c.1515), "a prostitute" (c.1530), which seems to be connected with Ir. drabog, Gael. drabag "dirty woman,"

EXPAND

and perhaps with Low Ger. drabbe "dirt."

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

drab

see dribs and drabs.

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Idioms & Phrases

dribs and drabs

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