wearisome

American  

[weer-ee-suhm] / ˈwɪər i səm /

adjective

1. causing weariness; fatiguing.

   a difficult and wearisome march.

2. tiresome or tedious.

   a wearisome person; a wearisome book.

   Synonyms:

   prosaic, prosy, dull, humdrum, monotonous, boring

   Antonyms:

   interesting

---

wearisome British  

/ ˈwɪərɪsəm /

adjective

1. causing fatigue or annoyance; tedious

---

Other Word Forms

• unwearisome
  adjective
• wearisomely
  adverb
• wearisomeness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of wearisome

First recorded in 1400–50, wearisome is from the late Middle English word werysom. See weary, -some ¹

Explanation

Anything that's boring, tedious, or so dull that it puts you to sleep can be described as wearisome. Long bus rides and long classroom lectures can both be wearisome. The adjective wearisome is good for describing things that seem to last forever, that require repetition, or that are otherwise both boring and mentally exhausting. Always being told "Be careful!" by your parents can be wearisome, and typing data into a computer all day is also wearisome. The original, fifteenth century meaning of wearisome was "weary" or "tired," but it quickly came to mean "making one weary," from the Old English root werig, "tired."

Example Sentences

Wearisome hours remain for details to be worked out, and the bothersome issue of deciding common prices for wheat was shelved until after the German elections two years hence.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Wearisome repetition," they say, or at best, "an interesting restatement."

From Time Magazine Archive

Wearisome to think of, were not one bound to it!

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 11 by Carlyle, Thomas

Song Come now, Manono, Come, Manono, I say; Take up the burden; Through groves of pandanus 5And wild stag-horn fern, Wearisome fern, lies our way.

From Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula by Emerson, Nathaniel Bright

Wearisome indeed is travelling with camels; but what would it have been had we been mounted upon them, as is generally the case with travellers from Sinai and ’Akabah! 

From Byeways in Palestine by Finn, James