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. 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 ⁴ 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 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

Within hours of erupting, the fire bore down on homes around the popular resorts of Siviri and Fourka, which are packed with summer tourists.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

The engraved silver salver bore the mark of Dorothy Mills, one of just a handful of registered female silversmiths working in the 1700s, the NT said.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Scientists noted, too, that amphetamine bore a chemical resemblance to dopamine, adding further weight to the connection between dopamine and schizophrenia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Later that afternoon, about four miles away outside of Home Depot in Pasadena, organizers staked in the ground dozens of white crosses that bore photos of the dead — the majority of them men.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

Built-in bookshelves ran along this false wall, old, sagging shelves whose blistered wood bore the same water stains as the wall behind them.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Then he got bored and switched to football.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Troops can be bored or anxious, but the ships they are on have chaplains and mental health counsellors, he says, and the troops are well-equipped to deal with the stress.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

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

“They’re bored, and they don’t have anyone telling them how great they are all the time.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

As suddenly as he started, Jeff seemed to get bored.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott

One project the company has eyed up would involve boring tunnels for an underground freight-distribution system around airports and warehouses.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

“And it’s not some boring balance training program — it’s fun and enjoyable and people actually stick with it.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Helming says he has fielded interest from companies that want to use his tunnel boring machine for power and fibre optic cables, or pipelines that could transport water, natural gas, or ammonia, for example.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

For a moment, Taylor Detector is an exceptionally boring slot machine.

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026

It was slow and boring but familiar, which was what I needed.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Related Words

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