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View synonyms for drab

drab

1

[ drab ]

adjective

, drab·ber, drab·best.
  1. dull; cheerless; lacking in spirit, brightness, etc.
  2. having the color drab.


noun

  1. dull gray; dull brownish or yellowish gray.
  2. any of several fabrics of this color, especially of thick wool or cotton.

drab

2

[ drab ]

noun

, Archaic.
  1. a dirty, untidy woman; slattern.
  2. a prostitute.

verb (used without object)

, drabbed, drab·bing.
  1. to associate with drabs.

drab

1

/ dræb /

adjective

  1. dull; dingy; shabby
  2. cheerless; dreary

    a drab evening

  3. of the colour drab
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


noun

  1. a light olive-brown colour
  2. a fabric of a dull grey or brown colour
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

drab

2

/ dræb /

noun

  1. a slatternly woman
  2. a whore
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. intr to consort with prostitutes
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˈdrabness, noun
  • ˈdrably, adverb
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Other Words From

  • drably adverb
  • drabness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of drab1

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

Origin of drab2

First recorded in 1505–15; perhaps akin to Dutch drab “dregs, lees,” obsolete Dutch drablen “to run or tramp about”; drabble, draff
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Word History and Origins

Origin of drab1

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

Origin of drab2

C16: of Celtic origin; compare Scottish Gaelic drabag
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Idioms and Phrases

see dribs and drabs .
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Example Sentences

It’s pea soup, after all, typically a metaphor for drab and boring.

As the pandemic has proved, we are adaptable creatures, though I still feel the loss of a landscape rendered drab but predictable by brown earth and gray forest.

Errors are expected—even the world’s best can confuse extremely similar-looking immature gulls or drab flycatchers.

Hops once were considered a drab ingredient, tossed in mainly to preserve the beer, thanks to antibacterial properties of the resins found in hop flowers, which are also called cones.

For Arise, these individual arbitration awards were dribs and drabs compared with the potentially large payouts that could come from a class-action lawsuit.

The winter can be so drab—all greys, blacks, and neutral tones.

Meathead nodded down the hallway where two olive drab duffel bags and a rucksack sat next to the front door.

Our bookstores would surely be more drab and austere in their absence or their relegation to the annals of world literature.

Any chance we can bring him back for the rest of this comparatively drab campaign?

But why do the outdoor scenes look as dank and drab as the gas-lit, sepia-toned interiors?

Here began indeed, in the drab surroundings of the workshop, in the silent mystery of the laboratory, the magic of the new age.

At his side was the girl, a slender body in drab, tossing her hat gayly about at the end of its long string.

He was now beyond all ordinary sensations of fear, only a drab feeling as of death—the death of the soul—stirred in his heart.

Wery proud I was in a gold-laced hat, a drab coat and a red weskit, to sit by his side, when he drove.

June Dun—a feather from Dottrel's back, hackled on a body of blue Rabbit's fur and drab silk, dun hackle for legs.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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