boring

Causing boredom or tiredness; making one feel tired and impatient.

Adjective

  1. Causing boredom or tiredness; making one feel tired and impatient.
    • What a boring film that was! I almost fell asleep.
    • “Why don’t you become a Baptist preacher?” she interrupted wearily. He smiled at her briefly. Then, from the way he leaned back, adjusted his glasses, took a quick sip of martini, Ida knew she was in for a speech....
    • Oh, let's not spoil a good dinner with a reconcilation^([sic]) scene. We’ve hardly split up. We’ll get to be like two old people who can communicate, and nothing’s boringer than that. - 1983, Peter De Vries, chapter 13,...
  2. Suffering from boredom; mildly annoyed and restless through having nothing to do.
    • I very boring.

    Synonyms: bored

  3. Used, designed to be used, or able to drill holes.
    • boring equipment
    • boring snails
  4. Capable of penetrating; piercing.
    • [H]is remarkably blue eyes had the trick of boring concentration. - 1963, Arthur Upfield, The Lake Frome Monster, London: Pan Books, published 1969, page 11:

Origin

Etymology tree Middle English boren Proto-Germanic *-ungō Old English -ung Middle English -ynge Middle English boryng English boring Inherited from Middle English boryng (“making a hole”). By surface analysis, bore + -ing.

Forms

more boring boringer most boring boringest

Synonyms

dull mind-numbing tedious banal basic beat blah commonplace bland boring cold colourless corny drab stuffy dreich drowsy dull as dishwater flat heavy going ho-hum humdrum insipid lackluster

Antonyms

arousing captivating charming engaging enchanting fascinating entertaining exciting interesting

Hypernyms

familiar moving normal

Hyponyms

wearisome

Related

bore bored boredom common

Derived

boring as beans Boring Billion boringly boringness nonboring unboring wood-boring

Noun

  1. The act or process of boring holes; such practice as an area of expertise in manufacturing.
    • turning and boring
    • fine boring with a boring head on a boring mill

    Hypernyms: machining cutting

    Coordinate Terms: boring reaming turning milling broaching shaping planing grinding

    1. (machining) Enlarging an existing hole with a single-point cutting tool or a boring head (usually with high precision and accuracy regarding the roundness and size of the hole).

    2. (especially in woodworking) Drilling.

      Hypernyms: cutting

      Coordinate Terms: boring reaming turning milling planing sawing whittling woodcarving sanding

  2. A pit or hole which has been bored.
    • It is common in urban areas that a great many borings exist from prior construction work. - 1992, J. Patrick Powers, Construction dewatering: new methods and applications, page 191:
  3. One of the fragments thrown up when something is bored or drilled.

    Synonyms: chip swarf

    Coordinate Terms: shaving sawdust

Forms

borings

Derived

boring bit macroboring microboring

Verb

  1. present participle and gerund of bore

Derived

tunnel boring machine