Dictionary

lusterless en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈlʌstɚləs/ (General-American)
• /ˈlʌstələs/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree English lust Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English luster Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English lusterless From luster + -less.

Meanings

1. Without luster, dull, not shiny, flat or matte finished.
   • The lips were of the usual marble pallor. The eyes were lustreless. 1844, Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial:
   • His thick, heavy, languid, lustreless black hair fell down behind his ears on to his shoulders, in that musicianlike way that is so offensive to the normal Englishman. 1894, George du Maurier, “Part First”, in Trilby: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, pages 11–12:
   • His Chevrolet was larger, but old and unwashed; the mudguards had been dented, cut, welded; one door had been ducoed in a lustreless colour that did not exactly match […] 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part Two, Chapter 5:
2. Without brilliance, unremarkable.
   • The school was a triumph for her husband after a lustreless career in Hong Kong, but it had brought her low. 1967, William Trevor, “Children of the Headmaster”, in Collected Stories, Penguin, published 1992, page 1237:

Forms

Deriveds

lusterlessness · lusterlessly

Synonyms

lackluster