boring
1 Americanadjective
noun
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borings
plural
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Machinery.
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the act or process of making or enlarging a hole.
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the hole so made.
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Geology. a cylindrical sample of earth strata obtained by boring a vertical hole.
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borings, the chips, fragments, or dust produced in boring.
noun
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the act or process of making or enlarging a hole
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the hole made in this way
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(often plural) a fragment, particle, chip, etc, produced during boring
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of boring1
First recorded in 1835–45; bore 1 + -ing 2
Origin of boring2
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.
Vocabulary lists containing boring
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.
See Examples For:
"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
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
For a certain class of traveler, boring is the ultimate luxury.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Translation: The boring, safe corner of your retirement account can lose money when long rates climb.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
As soon as the pixies had settled, Hadel hobbled to me, her wide eye boring into mine.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
The district proposes to make 226 borings and dig 57 test pits into the Earth across 2,500 cubic yards, according to the project description.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2022
Concrete and steel in the building will eventually be tested, Kilsheimer said, and investigators will go below ground to examine the soil and test the area with borings.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 3, 2021
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company wants to use existing roads to access 14 locations to drill test borings to determine the possible value of its copper mining claim.
From Washington Times ● May 26, 2016
Ecstatic, for example, “shall consist of scrap borings and turning alloyed with copper, tin, bismuth and zinc.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2016
And Odysseus took his time, turning the bow, tapping it, every inch, for borings that termites might have made while the master of the weapon was abroad.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
