A dull detail at English meeting is meant to flatter (7)

I believe the answer is:

adulate

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'to flatter' is the definition.
(adulating is a kind of flattering)

'a dull detail at english' is the wordplay.
'dull detail' becomes 'dul' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'a'+'dul'+'at'+'e'='ADULATE'

'meeting is meant' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for adulate that I've seen before include "Flatter obsequiously" , "Worship" , "Praise excessively" , "Rave over" , "Flatter excessively" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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