bore

¹ American  

[bawr] / bɔr /

verb (used with object)

bored, boring

1. to weary by dullness or sameness.

   The long speech bored me.

   Synonyms:

   annoy, tire, fatigue

   Antonyms:

   enrapture, thrill, amuse

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noun

1. a dull, tiresome, or uncongenial person.

   He's such a bore that I'd rather stay home than go out with him.

2. a cause of inconvenience or petty annoyance.

   The job has a lot of repetitive tasks that are a bore to do.

bore ² American  

[bawr] / bɔr /

verb (used with object)

bored, boring

1. to pierce (a solid substance) with some rotary cutting instrument.

   Synonyms:

   drill, perforate

2. to make (a hole) by drilling with such an instrument.

3. to form, make, or construct (a tunnel, mine, well, passage, etc.) by hollowing out, cutting through, or removing a core of material.

   to bore a tunnel through the Alps;

   to bore an oil well 3,000 feet deep.

4. Machinery. to enlarge (a hole) to a precise diameter with a cutting tool within the hole, by rotating either the tool or the work.

5. to force (an opening), as through a crowd, by persistent forward thrusting (usually followed by through orinto ); to force or make (a passage).

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verb (used without object)

bored, boring

1. to make a hole in a solid substance with a rotary cutting instrument.

2. Machinery. to enlarge a hole to a precise diameter.

3. (of a substance) to admit of being bored.

   Certain types of steel do not bore well.

noun

1. a hole made or enlarged by boring.

2. the inside diameter of a hole, tube, or hollow cylindrical or conical object or device, such as a bushing or bearing, engine cylinder, musical wind instrument, or barrel of a gun.

   Synonyms:

   caliber

bore ³ American  

[bawr, bohr] / bɔr, boʊr /

noun

1. an abrupt rise of tidal water moving rapidly inland from the mouth of an estuary.

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bore ⁴ American  

[bawr, bohr] / bɔr, boʊr /

verb

1. simple past tense of bear.

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bore ¹ British  

/ bɔː /

noun

1. a high steep-fronted wave moving up a narrow estuary, caused by the tide

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bore ² British  

/ bɔː /

verb

1. the past tense of bear 1

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bore ³ British  

/ bɔː /

verb

1. (tr) to tire or make weary by being dull, repetitious, or uninteresting

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noun

1. a dull, repetitious, or uninteresting person, activity, or state

bore ⁴ British  

/ bɔː /

verb

1. to produce (a hole) in (a material) by use of a drill, auger, or other cutting tool

2. to increase the diameter of (a hole), as by an internal turning operation on a lathe or similar machine

3. (tr) to produce (a hole in the ground, tunnel, mine shaft, etc) by digging, drilling, cutting, etc

4. informal (intr) (of a horse or athlete in a race) to push other competitors, esp in order to try to get them out of the way

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noun

1. a hole or tunnel in the ground, esp one drilled in search of minerals, oil, etc

2. 1. a circular hole in a material produced by drilling, turning, or drawing

   2. the diameter of such a hole

3. 1. the hollow part of a tube or cylinder, esp of a gun barrel

   2. the diameter of such a hollow part; calibre

4. an artesian well

bore Scientific  

/ bôr /

1. In fluid mechanics, a jump in the level of moving water, generally propagating in the opposite direction to the current. Strong ocean tides can cause bores to propagate up rivers.

2. 1. The white, shallow portion of a wave after it breaks. The bore carries ocean water onto the beach.

   2. A tidal wave caused by the surge of a flood tide upstream in a narrowing estuary or by colliding tidal currents.

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Other Word Forms

• borable
  adjective
• boreable
  adjective
• bored
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of bore¹

First recorded in 1760–70; of uncertain origin

Origin of bore²

First recorded before 900; Middle English bor(i)en, Old English borian; cognate with Old High German borōn, German bohren, Old Norse bora, Latin forāre

Origin of bore³

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English bare “a wave, billow,” from Old Norse bāra

Explanation

If your friends fall asleep every time you open your mouth, you might be a bore — someone who makes the people around them bored. In 1738, Voltaire wisely wrote, “The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.” But the word bore is less boring than you think, since it can function as both noun and verb. You can bore a hole into something by drilling through it with a tool, and you can also bore people by being excessively dull, repetitive, or tedious to be around. And don't forget the bore of a needle or gun barrel, which is the same as its diameter.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bore bored boring

He said social media platforms bore responsibility for not rebutting in time the content that encouraged last week's rush, warning it was "very likely" a similar event would happen "in any part of the world".

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

“There was so much fear around that when I was elected, and none of it bore out to be true.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

Among the British nationals who died were couple Pete and Fran Gillam, who lived in Bédar, the village that bore the brunt of the wildfires.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

“I was so struck on ‘Oppenheimer’ by what Imax could do for the human face, it seemed like it bore a hole into Cillian Murphy’s.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

From this spot, you could spy Jim’s soddy—at least the roof, from which grew a cherry tree that Jim swore bore the best pie cherries in all of Montana.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

With people isolated and bored at home during the lockdown, many were more willing to engage in conspiracy theory content the runs rampant online.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

Cummings added he "tried not to think about the cost" of the sports club, but added "it's better than not working and looking after a kid who would be bored".

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

When former President Barack Obama once compared Putin’s slouch and body language to “the bored kid in the back of the classroom,” the comment infuriated him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

Nevertheless, the claustrophobic framing shrinks an epic voyage into small-screen content made solely for a bored child to hold right up to their nose.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

She failed to catch anything, but she was never bored, for no two days were alike.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

"It would be huge, absolutely huge. They're big punchers. These guys are big, big punchers. They're exciting. They're not in boring fights," Warren said.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Before Mr. Sinner claimed the title in four sets, a friend texted to say, “good lord this is boring tennis.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

But the alternative, as Araki suggests, is an utterly boring existence, where, either way, you’ll always wonder “what if?”

From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026

Translation: The boring, safe corner of your retirement account can lose money when long rates climb.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

They spent some time talking about her pregnancy, which was both boring and gross, before Etta leveled a no-nonsense gaze at the boy.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

Related Words

• annoy
• bother
• exhaust
• fatigue
• irk
• irritate
• jade
• tire
• worry