dull vs sparkle

dull

verb
  • To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish. 

  • To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp. 

  • To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy. 

  • To lose a sharp edge; to become dull. 

adj
  • Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding. 

  • Insensible; unfeeling. 

  • Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly. 

  • Sluggish, listless. 

  • Boring; not exciting or interesting. 

  • Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness. 

  • Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp. 

  • Cloudy, overcast. 

  • Heavy; lifeless; inert. 

  • Not clear, muffled. 

sparkle

verb
  • To shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle 

  • To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash. 

  • To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles 

  • To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce 

  • To emit in the form or likeness of sparks. 

noun
  • Brilliance; luster. 

  • Liveliness; vivacity. 

  • The quality of being sparkling or fizzy; effervescence. 

  • A little spark; a scintillation. 

How often have the words dull and sparkle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )