boredom
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of boredom
Explanation
Boredom can make you do crazy things, like watching terrible old game shows on television or eating the bag of chocolate chips you find in the freezer. The feeling of being bored or uninterested in what you're doing is boredom. Everyone experiences boredom sometimes. The feeling that nothing catches your interest, that everything's dull and flat, sums up the state of boredom. Too much time on your hands can result in boredom, and so can the tediousness of doing the same thing over and over again, like a dreary task at a job. The word boredom comes from something called a "boring tool", a kind of drill that works slowly and repetitively; around 1768, bore, meaning "be tiresome," became a popular slang term, and boredom followed.
Vocabulary lists containing boredom
"Play Ball!"
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-dom and -hood
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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.
Powell puts the behaviour down to young people "wanting connection, social media, boredom, lack of resources and an age-old game of kids acting-up".
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The research on why people leave does not point to boredom or busyness.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
But one day, the excitement of the AI trade will come from plunges rather than melt-ups, and when that happens, you will yearn for boredom.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
“Digital environments become the easiest and most reliable way to regulate mood, boredom, or stress, so they gradually start to crowd everything else out.”
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
I was ten when I finally mellowed enough to start venturing out myself, a decision driven in large part by boredom.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
