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Synonyms

boring

1 American  
[bawr-ing] / ˈbɔr ɪŋ /

adjective

  1. causing or marked by boredom; dull and uninteresting; tiresome: to have a boring time.

    a boring discussion;

    to have a boring time.
    Synonyms:
    tedious, tiresome, dull
boring 2 American  
[bawr-ing, bohr-] / ˈbɔr ɪŋ, ˈboʊr- /

noun

  1. Machinery.

    1. the act or process of making or enlarging a hole.

    2. the hole so made.

  2. Geology. a cylindrical sample of earth strata obtained by boring a vertical hole.

  3. borings, the chips, fragments, or dust produced in boring.

boring 1 British  
/ ˈbɔːrɪŋ /

noun

    1. the act or process of making or enlarging a hole

    2. the hole made in this way

  2. (often plural) a fragment, particle, chip, etc, produced during boring

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
boring 2 British  
/ ˈbɔːrɪŋ /

adjective

  1. dull; repetitious; uninteresting

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of boring1

First recorded in 1835–45; bore 1 + -ing 2

Origin of boring2

First recorded in 1400–50; bore 2 + -ing 1

Explanation

As an adjective boring describes something (or someone) that is tedious, dull, and lacking in interest. As a noun, boring refers to the act of drilling a hole, or the hole itself. When a geologist's powerful drill makes a boring into the earth, you can remove a sample and learn about the history of our planet just by seeing what's contained in the boring's layers. Of course, if you aren't interested in that kind of thing, you might find a two-hour lecture on the subject a bit boring.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

An additional 60 were registered by other companies in the Musk empire, namely xAI, Neuralink and the Boring Co.

From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026

Estimates of Musk’s wealth vary, largely depending on how his private companies—which also include Neuralink and the Boring Co.—are valued.

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

Boring stocks tend to do better when the overall market does worse.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

In addition to SpaceX, xAI and Tesla, Musk has leadership roles at the Boring Company, a tunneling company, and Neuralink, which is developing brain-chip interfaces.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 29, 2026

Chess blinked, trying to make out the familiar furniture of the Boring Room: the desk, the chair, the bookshelves.

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.