The first ceremony was dull (5)
I believe the answer is:
trite
'dull' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'the first ceremony' is the wordplay.
'first' suggests taking the first letters.
'ceremony' becomes 'rite' (rite is a kind of ceremony).
The initial letter of 'the' is 't'.
't'+'rite'='TRITE'
'was' is the link.
(Other definitions for trite that I've seen before include "repeated too often" , "Banal, commonplace" , "Dull, unoriginal" , "used till novelty's worn off" , "all vigour is gone" .)