dull vs pale

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. 

pale

verb
  • To make pale; to diminish the brightness of. 

  • To turn pale; to lose colour. 

  • To enclose with pales, or as if with pales; to encircle or encompass; to fence off. 

  • To become insignificant. 

adj
  • Feeble, faint. 

  • Light in color. 

  • Having a pallor (a light color, especially due to sickness, shock, fright etc.). 

noun
  • Limits, bounds (especially before of). 

  • A vertical band down the middle of a shield. 

  • A cheese scoop. 

  • The bounds of morality, good behaviour or judgment in civilized company, in the phrase beyond the pale. 

  • A wooden stake; a picket. 

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