bored

American  

[bawrd] / bɔrd /

adjective

1. wearied by dullness or sameness (often followed by with, of, orby ).

   This activity will keep bored children entertained on those long summer days.

   She's bored with the color of her room and has decided to paint it.

   I never seem to get bored of this game.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of bore.

Etymology

Origin of bored

First recorded in 1820–30; bore ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective; bore ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb

Explanation

When you are bored, nothing is engaging you. If you're on a long flight, you forgot your book, and there's no movie, you might become bored. The adjective bored comes from boredom, the state of being where nothing is interesting or exciting. If you only understand English, you'll probably get bored quickly listening to German talk radio. It's hard not to be bored by a six hour bus ride on a featureless interstate highway. If you are deeply, spiritually bored by the world, you are suffering from ennui — that's boredom in French!

Example Sentences

I’m pleasantly surprised by what I’m listening to instead of frustrated and bored.

From Slate • Apr. 12, 2026

"I'm bored out of my mind," one journalist told AFP, declining to be named.

From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026

"I was thinking right then, she's going to be bored and lonely, there should be something on YouTube for Luna," says Carano, a pilot who now lives in Bologna, Italy.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026

But exercise bored Folan—until she read about yoga and was enticed by its spiritual dimension: the potential to tone one’s inner life, too.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

With the bored indifference that cats exhibit even when they are doing as they have been told, the feline troublemaker moseyed over to Cassiopeia and allowed herself to be picked up.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

Related Words

• disinterested
• fatigued
• tired