From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdrabdrab /dræb/ adjective 1 CCnot bright in colour, especially in a way that stops you from feeling cheerful SYN dull The walls were painted a drab green.2 INTERESTINGboring SYN dull people forced to live grey, drab existences in ugly towns —drabness noun [uncountable] → dribs and drabs
Examples from the Corpus
drab• When I came to Manchester from Brazil everything seemed so drab and colourless.• I liked the town, for all its drab and muted calm; it seemed a safe place to be.• Canvassing one day in a by-election in Essex, Martin was asked to cover a street of drab brick semis.• Their clothes hung loosely on their frames, drab coats and washed-out dresses covered with a film of dust.• Paul grew tired of his drab, depressing life.• Augusta was not at her best yesterday on a drab, grey day.• You enter the drab office building half-expecting it to be abandoned.• We figured it was a bonus for having to put up with that drab Sunday issue.• Unfortunately, much of the drab utilitarianism of urban existence has come to be associated with the design philosophy of functionalism.• She seemed to like her drab vista.Origin drab (1500-1600) drab “(dull-colored) cloth” ((16-18 centuries)), from Old French drap “cloth” 